Hanging by a Moment
by Laura and Amber
Summary: What do you get when you cross Ferb and Vanessa? An awesome couple that deserves more screen time! Ferbnessa ALL the way on this one people!
1. Chapter 1

"Hey boys.", Linda said as she came into the backyard where Phineas and his step-brother Ferb were. "How are you two doing today?"

"Hey Mom.", Phineas waved happily before sighing. "Ferb and I can't seem to get a good idea for the day's activities..."

"Well one of my friends from cooking class had just recently moved into the neighborhood from another side of town. Why not we fix ourselves up- and drop by to welcome them to the neighborhood?", Linda suggested. "Candace is fired up about it."

Meanwhile up stairs Candace was busy blow drying her hair as she talked to Stacy on the phone and searched through the closet for a good outfit.

"Yeah oh my gosh Stacy! What if the new family has a new teenage boy that's even better than Jeremy?", Candace said excitedly.

"Yeah if that was even possible!", Stacy chuckled as she typed away at the computer. "I haven't found any dirt on them yet though but I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks Stacy. But now that I come to think of it.. You're probably right... It's probably a family with a kid if not 3 or 4 kids that'll probably..."

'...become friends with Phineas and will happily help him on the next invention and will end up being another Buford, Baljeet, or Irving.', Ferb moaned in his mind.

Don't get him wrong. It wasn't that Ferb hated working on fun projects with Phineas but as of lately it seemed as if things had gotten pretty boring in their daily routine despite how many different things they come up with. He softly sighed as he brushed his hair back. With any luck, there aren't any kids at their mom's cooking friend's house. Phineas on the other hand, was bright and cheery about it as ever as he complimented his mom on the gelatin sculpture. Ferb had to hand it to his step-mother, she sure kenw how to make a gelatin sculpture.

'It's a simple routine.', he thought to himself as the family piled into the car. 'We go over. We say hi. Introduced to other parts of the family. We stay about for a while as parents talk and kids play and then we go home. Simple.'

"Hey... Where's Perry?", he finally asked, looking about the floor.

"Here he is!", Phineas piped up as he picked up the platypus.

It wasn't long before the family was ready and were on their way down the sidewalk.

"It's only a few houses down. She's moved here from the other side of the city.", Linda explained as they walked.

She was right. It didn't take very long before they reached the house and walked up to the door. Ferb had to admit, it was a rather nice house though he continued to go through the simple routine in his head as he waited for the end of this. After Linda rang the doorbell the door soon opened to reveal her good friend, Charlene.

"Oh hi! Thanks for coming by.", Charlene greeted, giving Linda half a hug as Lind tried to not let the gelatin fall over.

"Hi Charlene! We thought we'd bring you a house warming gift.", Linda said in return, offering the dessert.

"Oh thank you! Well why don't you come in for a while?"

'Yup.', Ferb thought to himself as they walked in.

As the grown ups talked a bit, the kids were allowed to look about the house a bit though Ferb kept to himself. Again, he didn't hate the idea of welcoming someone to the neighborhood. It was just kinda boring to him.

"Oh, by the way, I think there's someone you'd like to meet.", Charlene was saying to Linda before walking over to a flight of stairs and calling up them. "Vanessa! We have some visitors!"

'Wait, what?', Ferb thought, his attention suddenly caught with the name.

That's when it's like everything in the world suddenly disappeared in Ferb's mind as the love of his life, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, came down stairs.

"Yeah Mom?", she said before her sight was caught by the Flynn-Fletcher kids. "Oh hey guys. Haven't seen you in a while."

"Hey Vanessa!" Phineas greeted.

"Hi Vanessa.", Candace said, losing hope of meeting a new guy.

"Hey Ferb.", Vanessa added with a slight smile.

He only nodded, unsure of what all to say. That she was gorgeous? That she had a smile that kills him in the most delightful way internally? Ferb's thoughts were quickly interrupted by Charlene.

"Oh you kids know each other? Oh that's so nice.", she smiled.

"Well Ferb's actually known Vanessa a little longer than the rest of us.", Phineas explained.

"Yeah. We met at the super mall when I was visiting, Dad.", Vanessa said.

"Actually it was Blueprint Heaven.", Ferb corrected.

"What? When.. Oh! Oh that's right! You're the ones I swapped blueprints with?", Vanessa exclaimed, finally remembering the day.

"Oh! So you're the one who needed plans for a space lazerinator!", Phineas smiled but then it faded a bit with curiosity. "...Why?"

Vanessa replied to this with a roll of her eyes in annoyance and, "It was for my dad. He had me go pick them up."

"Oh speaking of the Mister...", Lawrence began and indulging the adults into a different conversation, leaving the kids to themselves.

The kids watched a bit as the parents talked and then Vanessa nodded to the stairs and the group walked up them.

"So Vanessa, where is your dad?", Candace asked as they walked.

"My mom and dad divorced when I was little so Dad lives in an apartment in town.", she said. "He's so annoying."

"I hear ya.", Candace groaned and rolled her eyes as she caught word from Lawrence rambling about his family history.

"Oh come on Candace, Dad's not THAT...", Phineas began before also hearing some of his dad's speech.

"'As I always say, better out than in!', my old man says.", Lawrence hoped to joke, causing Phineas to rethink of what he was about to say.

"...Okay you may have a point.", he corrected himself.

They walked into Vanessa's room and Ferb stared curiously at all the boxes on the floor. Some furniture was sat up. The bed, dresser, bookshelf with a few books on it, and a desk with a laptop on it, but the majority of everything was still in boxes.

"Sorry, for the mess. I didn't really think you'd wanna hear my mom talk about my dad much.", Vanessa shrugged. "And it's not like we really got any entertainment sat up yet or anything."

"Huh...", Candace said, looking up at a poster of the Scraping Fangs. "You uh... You really like the heavy stuff huh?"

"Scraping Fangs? Yeah. One of my favorites.", Vanessa smiled up at the poster. "Wish I could go to one of their concerts but they sell out quick. How about you?"

"Eh.. I'm more into something like.. Well like Jeremy and the Incidentals.", Candace shrugged.

"Phineas?", Vanessa asked.

"Oh I like all kinds of music! I haven't heard Scraping Fangs though.", Phineas seemed to ponder it for a moment but then smiled again. "Actually, Ferb and I make up our own songs, really."

"Really? That's cool. Like what?", Vanessa smiled at him.

"Well like one time we made a song for- Hey!", he looked about. "Where IS Perry? I thought I brought him up here."

"Perry?", Vanessa asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah. He's their pet platypus.", Candace explained.

"He always disappears during the day but since it's normally sooner than now, I would've thought he'd stay with us for once.", Phineas scratched his head as he kept looking around for the missing monotreme.

Vanessa stared for a moment, looking like she was discovering a scary truth but wondering really is what she was thinking was right.

"...Perry the...Platypus?", she asked slowly.

"Yeah. Why asking?", Phineas answered and then turned to her to ask the question.

Vanessa stared for a moment... Possibly longer.

'Should I even say how much of a huge coincidence this is with Dad and HIS little platypus friend?', she thought to herself. 'I know Perry's a secret agent but.. I didn't expect I'd ever meet his family. Calm down Vanessa. It's just Perry. It's not like you really need to get involved with the whole "secret agent" thing with them or anybody. But I should give some sort of answer to Phineas...'

"Just.. Uh.. curious. My dad... My dad loves platypuses.", she lied. "And strangely enough the name Perry."

"How serendipitous!", Phineas smiled.

Ferb didn't entirely buy the idea. But he wasn't gonna be the one to say anything. If Vanessa wanted to keep something to herself, that was fine with him. Candace, however, had other opinions.

"Ew! How could anyone love that disgusting meat brick? I mean he SWEATS MILK. Eww!", she shuddered.

Vanessa sighed.

"My dad has many weird interests...", she groaned.

"Hey, Perry's not disgusting!", Phineas argued. "I always thought he was a great pet!"

"Hm. You're right. I take it back. What any SANE person likes that meat brick?", Candace retorted, earning a snicker from the hostess.

Ferb smiled a bit, hearing Vanessa laughing like that. It seemed like everything about this trip was just complete heaven to him. And like all good things, it came to an end all too quickly. Ferb was sad to hear Linda calling them back to the door so they could go home. But even as they walked back down the street, Ferb had a particular extra tap in his step. And that tap, was the knowledge of a great thing. Of the great idea of Vanessa. The girl he's loved at first sight. The girl who seemed to be able to do anything. Was only 3 blocks away.

* * *

_Just thought I'd throw a Ferbnessa fanfic out there for everyone. It's high time this couple had some good love and I'm willing to risk my sanity for it! X3 MAY JOHNNY AND MONTY PERISH UNDERNEATH MY KEYBOARD! *Eyes fire up as she pulls up a machine gun.* Nya ha ha ha ha ha!_


	2. Chapter 2

The next day proceeded as usual. Phineas and Ferb were already started on their next project and Buford and Baljeet had come by to help. Perry disappeared and then Isabella came in with her typical flirt toward Phineas. Ferb's mind, though, was elsewhere. As anyone would guess, Vanessa was the theme of the subject. That was, of course, until Ferb's attention was finally caught by Phineas.

"Ferb!", Phineas said, finally getting his brother to blink and look over. "Could you hand me that wrench? I need to tighten this part."

Ferb looked in his hand to realize he was holding on a wrench and handed it over.

"Thanks, you okay?", Phineas said.

Ferb gave a nod and pointed to the house, indicating he was gonna get something to drink. He walked to the house and began to mentally scold himself.

'Come on! You can't keep constantly think about Vanessa! Ferb, come on. Focus on the task at hand. You have all of the rest of the day to daydream. Maybe if you finish up quickly, you MIGHT be able to pull yourself together to go hang out with her.'

He had gotten his drink and was heading back out when another person came into the backyard. Vanessa opened the door and walked in, curious of what the gang was up to.

"Hey there guys.", Vanessa greeted.

"Oh hey Vanessa!", Phineas smiled and waved the wrench. "You guys remember her, right?"

"Oh yeah! Hi Vanessa!", Isabella greeted.

"Yeah, she moved in just a few houses down.", Phineas explained.

Vanessa's attention was soon caught by Ferb and she looked over at him to ask, "So what's up?"

Ferb was, once again, speechless. Fortunately, Phineas piped up with the answer for him instead.

"We're building a remote that controls people!", Phineas explained. "So you can mute them, turn up the volume of their voice, change their emotions.."

"Why would you do that?", she asked, waiting for an evil explanation.

"Well Candace was talking about being worried she was getting to excited and wanted to calm down and get a better grip at lowering her voice.", Phineas explained. "The remote was Ferb's idea actually."

Ferb snickered a bit to himself at the idea of being able to mute his annoyingly loud sister.

"...So you're trying to build this to help Candace?", Vanessa asked.

"Yeah. we do that kinda stuff all the time.", Phineas shrugged. "Wanna help?"

Vanessa stared for a moment. They built stuff like her dad, but for all the opposite reasons. She finally gave a smile and a nod.

"Sure, why not?", she shrugged. "It'd be a nice change of pace."

"Great!", Baljeet smiled happily.

"Cool! Some new help.", Isabella remarked.

"Well go ahead and pick up a tool and let's get to work.", Phineas encouraged as he returned to his work.

Vanessa gladly began to help out and Ferb stared throughout most of the process. As if Vanessa wasn't already impressive enough back at the mall with all the crates and such. She was also very skillful with tools and even had some good ideas of how to improve the remote. Being able to record what people have done to the brain so they won't forget. Being able to stop and then played in slow motion. Fast forward so you could buzz around the place with a typical teenage girl's thought-train at 25 thoughts per second! While the gang worked on the remote, Ferb cherished the entire moment. Every bit of it. Of being with Vanessa. Of being able to work with Vanessa. He clung to every moment of it and wouldn't want to trade it for anything else. The remote worked great and aside from helping Candace with her problem, the rest of the gang had a great time playing with the machine themselves.

"...", Isabella was saying as she slowly ran over to Phineas.

"What'sthatisabella?Ican'tunderstandwhatyoursaying!Hangonaminute", Phineas spoke very quickly.

He grabbed the remote in fast-forward speed and not only turned himself but Isabella back to normal.

"...oooow! That was really weird!", Isabella giggled as she was put back to normal. "It's like the rest of the world was moving 90 mph faster than I was!"

"Ha ha! Really? To me it was like the world couldn't keep up.", Phineas laughed. "Vanessa, what do you think?"

Vanessa had used the audio controls to change her language to German, "'My dad would be very impressed with me. And...I sound just like him. Oh great!'"

She face palmed herself and Phineas only shrugged.

"I have no clue what you said, but I'm sorry you have to smack your face.", he simply said before turning to Ferb. "What about you Ferb?

Ferb had his mouth covered and a mortified expression on his face. He simply shook his head warningly, obviously not wanting to talk.

"Oh come on Ferb, it can't be that bad can it?", Phineas asked, walking up to him.

"What'd he do?", Vanessa asked after putting her voice back to normal.

Ferb simply gave a silent sigh before removing his hand and saying, "It's an American accent."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh as Ferb rolled his eyes, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Sorry Ferb! But that sounds REALLY weird from you!", Phineas said between laughs. "It's just-! It doesn't work for you at all!"

"Yeah, Ferb! You're WAY better with your British accent.", Isabella agreed.

Vanessa didn't laugh but chuckled a bit and shrugged, "For once in my life, that's actually a really good kinda weird."

"'Good weird'?", Phineas repeated, calming down. "What other kinda weird have you had in your life?"

"Weird weird. Bad weird. Embarrassing weird. So weird, sometimes. There's no way you could laugh at it. All you could do at that point is role your eyes and say, 'How did my life get to the point that it's actually kinda normal now?'", she listed.

"Heh, wow. I kinda know how that is.", Isabella shrugged. "I mean, when do WE ever really had a normal day? Every day it's something new and unusual."

"Well I have my normal days but that's only when I'm with my mom.", Vanessa shrugged.

"I don't know about you guys, but I hope to NEVER have a normal day in my life.", Phineas chuckled. "Then life would never get dull."

"Speaking of dull...", Vanessa began, pointing to the side of the house as Buford and Baljeet began to run around in slow motion.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh as the two made weird faces before Baljeet tripped over his shoes and Buford raised his arms in victory. He jumped in triumphed and Baljeet slowly stood back up and groaned. Buford then sneered down evilly at him and Baljeet began to run, not liking the look on his bully's face but was still too late as Buford grabbed him and gave the nerd a wedgie in slow motion.

"Oowww!", Isabella groaned as she heard the high-pitched screaming. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt."

Everyone couldn't help but cringe aside from Vanessa who only kinda chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?", Phineas asked with a British accent as he played with the remote still.

"Ha ha ha! Well first off, the accent.", Vanessa remarked. "Secondly, I was.. Well I was thinking about my dad and how bad it would hurt if he had to put up with THAT from his nemesis."

Phineas, Isabella, and Ferb stared at her curiously. Vanessa rolled her eyes and decided to explain.

"Who beats him up on a daily basis and constantly wins the fight."

"Ohhh.", they acknowledged before cringing a bit. "Oooh..."

Phineas put them back into normal speed and Baljeet fell to the ground whimpering quietly in pain. Buford walked away chuckling a bit to himself.

"That, was probably one of my best works.", he said more to himself than anyone.

"That, was probably one of the most painful experiences ever!", Baljeet whimpered.

"Little harsh there, don't you think, Buford?", Phineas asked as he sat his voice back to normal.

"No.", Buford shrugged. "Otherwise I'd still be doing it."

They laughed and soon Linda came into the backyard.

"Phineas, Ferb! I've got some snacks made for you!", she smiled before heading back inside.

"Okay Mom!", Phineas nodded before turning to Vanessa. "Hey Vanessa, you wanna join us for snacks?"

"You know what? Why not?", Vanessa nodded and walked in with them. "Be a nice change of pace."

She paused to look back at the remote laying on the working table in the yard.

"Wait.. What about the remote?", she asked. "Shouldn't we bring it inside?"

"Nah. Our inventions are always disappearing. I think it'd be best if they disappeared outside rather than inside.", Phineas shrugged.

"Okay...", Vanessa said, a little unsure of how he could say that so casually.

They went inside and had their snacks and all in all, the day had turned out to be one of the best of Ferb's life. And he knew that tomorrow, it could happen all over again.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Phineas had fallen sick with a stomach virus. Ferb was deciding to stay inside and take care of him with Linda, but Phineas thought of the contrary.

"Nah, Mom'll take good care of me.", Phineas insisted. "Just cause I'm sick doesn't mean you can't have the best day ever."

He gave a violent hack and with that, Ferb was left to be outside, thinking of what to do for the day. Isabella came right on schedule but was going to be surprised to see her reason for being there, NOT there.

"Hey Phineas!", she greeted extra happily. "Whatcha doo..."

She saw Phineas wasn't there and looked around curiously.

"Hey.. Where's Phineas?"

"He's sick.", Ferb explained. "He's inside on the couch."

"Oh.. Uh, thanks Ferb.", and with that she quickly walked inside to see after Phineas.

Buford and Baljeet came over next, also surprised to see Phineas not there. After they went inside and gave Phineas their best wishes, they came back out and decided to leave Ferb.

"What?", Ferb asked, hearing their announce of quick leave.

"Well no offense, but isn't Phineas normally the one that comes up with the day's activities?", Baljeet asked.

"Yeah. If he's not here, what are you gonna do? Throw a bunch of weird facts at us?", Buford shrugged, not caring how blunt and uncalled-for his statement was.

The two walked out and Isabella wouldn't leave Phineas. This was normal for Ferb. Everyone always liked the happy face instead of the actual brain. As he tried to decide what he was gonna do by himself for the day, Vanessa came in as well, curious if the duo were working on another invention. She was given the run-down about how Phineas was sick and Isabella and Linda were taking care of him.

"Oh.. Well I hope he feels better soon.", she shrugged and walked closer. "So what are we gonna do today?"

She sat down next to him and Ferb was surprised. When Phineas was sick, he'd normally be left alone. With him being alone, Ferb would work on his own private projects. Not that he wanted to keep anything from Phineas but it was more of a one-person job instead of a group job is all. But now that alone time was broken off by someone who actually wanted to be with HIM. And that someone was still waiting for an answer.

"Uh... I don't really have anything planned..", Ferb replied quietly, trying hard not to stare at her.

"Really? Hm...", Vanessa looked heavenward, trying to think of something to do for the day.

Her teenage friends lived in the other side of town so she could only see them when she visited her dad. She unpacked her things back at her house so there wasn't really anything for her to do that day. After a while of thinking things over, she finally had a suggestion.

"You know, my mom's driving into town for some errands. You wanna go hang out or something?", she asked.

Ferb thought about it for a moment.

"And... do what in town?", he asked.

Vanessa gave a shrug and replied, "Just walk around. Y'know. Look at stores we pass by. Talk. Hang out?"

Ferb thought about it a little longer and then gave a nod and a small smile. He knew what he was gonna do that day. Within some time they were checking out a small coffee shop and sitting down with their cups as Vanessa talked.

"Hey, aren't you a little young to be drinking coffee?", she asked.

"No. No I'm not.", Ferb replied simply as he took a sip.

Vanessa shrugged it off and as they sat and drank, she began to feel curious of something.

"Hey Ferb? How come you don't talk much?", she asked, earning a quizzical look. "You're so...quiet. Even if you were an introvert, you're pretty quiet."

Ferb simply gave a shrug and returned to his drink, remaining quiet as usual.

"Ferb, seriously, talk a bit. If I keep up the conversation by myself, I'm gonna start turning into my dad.", she half-joked with a smile.

Ferb gave another shrug and looked up asking, "Like what? I'm not really one to talk as much as listen. And when I do talk, people normally blow me off so it's not like it really matters anyway."

"Yeah but they say that quiet people often have the loudest mind. So if you're SO quiet, you must have at least some good ideas.", Vanessa pressed on. "And it'd be nice to hear some of them. I promise, I'm not gonna just blow you off."

Ferb looked at her for a moment, happier and happier that she ever moved into his neighborhood. That she offered to spend time with him. That she was right here, obviously smart about some people, and willing to actually listen to him instead of blathering on like most did.

"Well what should I talk about then?", he asked, smiling a bit himself.

"Mm... What kinda music do you like? Obviously you've seen how I like heavy metal, but your brother said you made up a bunch of songs so, what's your favorite genre?"

Ferb thought about it a minute. Thought about all the music they've written over the Summer, ever since being One-Hit Wonders. After a moment, he looked around and then looked back at his coffee.

"...Well, with a place like this, something I'd prefer to listen to would be jazz.", he finally answered.

"Jazz?"

"Yes. You know like... Bob Dorough.", Ferb exampled.

"...Never heard that kinda music.", Vanessa said, feeling bewildered and then chuckled a bit. "I actually thought you'd say something like... Okay, I wasn't sure what on earth you'd say, really."

They laughed a bit and then Ferb pulled out his ipod and turned on a jazz song and shared it with Vanessa. She listened to the song in her head, looking around at the coffee store, allowing the scene and the song to connect and smiled, bobbing her head to the music.

"These are some weird lyrics.", she chuckled. "Is this that Bob guy?"

"Yeah. His song 'I've Got Just About Everything'.", he nodded with a smile.

Vanessa continued to bob her head in time to the beat, humming a long with it some. Ferb, knowing the song by heart and where she was at, joined in a bit.

_I've got the urge to share._

_Though I have just about, just about, just about everything,_

_I know for sure by now, I really want what's lacking._

_I'm not complaining with or without it I still got what I got._

The next bits of the lyrics, made Vanessa pause and give a wide smile, looking over curiously at Ferb who blushed slightly, suddenly remembering the next lyrics.

_But you can better my life some,_

_With your hugging and kissing,_

_That's what is missing._

"Okay, okay, I know. Romantic and it's a guy and I'm a guy but it's a good song.", Ferb shrugged as his cheeks burned more. "It's just one artist."

'Wow, that's cute. If he was a teenager and like this, he'd actually rock.', she thought in her mind with a giggle and a sip.

This may have been just about one of the most embarrassing scenes Ferb's been in, in a long time. It really wasn't the romance that he liked about the song, though he always secretly had Vanessa in mind when he heard it. He heard it a lot when he was little and while the lyrics weren't exactly the most manliest, they were well composed and very well put together with voice and piano. Or so he often tells himself. After the song was finished, she took out the ear buds and handed it back.

"That was cool.", she said. "He's got a bit of a weird singing voice though."

"One of the interesting things about Bob Dorough. His voice is high and odd, but there's good lyrics and it works out really nicely. Also he plays all the piano. No remixing."

"Really? Awesome!", Vanessa's smile widened.

"That's the nice thing about jazz, the lyrics can be so simple, not rhyme, and yet mean a whole lot. Or there could just not be any lyrics at all. Piano, bass, precussion. So simple but so...", he trailed off, trying to think of the right word.

"Smooth.?", they said at the same time, Vanessa asking, Ferb finding the right word in time.

Ferb smiled and gave a nod.

"Yeah, exactly.", he chuckled a bit.

After some inquiring, Vanessa then pulled out her own music player and shared it with him. Ferb listened to the song that was on. It started off slow but when it kicked into the heavy metal, he almost fell out of his seat laughing.

"What?", she asked, wanting to laugh as well.

"Sorry, Vanessa. No offense but this song sounds like... Like a garbage truck full of drum players and broken guitars.", he said, still laughing. "What is he saying? Babidabaw?"

Vanessa laughed too and gave a nod, "'Bawitdiba'. Yeah that's part of why I like it. I can't really pick up on the lyrics, but just that guitar sound and everything, I know it sounds like a lot of noise but it.. I like it for reason."

She gave a careless shrug and Ferb laughed some more, nodding his head in time to the beat. They shared more music, laughing at some lyrics. And that's how it was for pretty much the whole day. When Ferb returned home, Phineas asked how the day went.

"It was a very good day.", Ferb replied with a smile. "Probably one of the best all Summer long."

Phineas stared for a moment, a bit in shock before smiling again with a curiously raised eyebrow, "Well it must've been an awesome day if you're talking more than usual. How'd you spend it?"

"Vanessa and I walked around town and hung out.", Ferb replied, being slightly intrigued by Phineas' widening smile. "What's with the look?"

"...Ferb, do you like Vanessa?", Phineas asked, ready to laugh.

"...Okay who made you a woman?", Ferb asked now completely confused.

"Well Ferb I'm a guy! You know boys know when other guys like a girl. Not to mention I've been stuck on the couch with nothing but silly day-time dramas on all the channels. I think it's rubbed off.", Phineas groaned a bit, rolling his eyes.

"Aren't you a little young to be watching soaps?", Ferb asked, now completely bewildered.

"No one could find the remote!", Phineas shrugged, a little upset about having watched anything like it at all.

Meanwhile downstairs, while everyone continued to search, Perry situated the hidden remote under him while he watched his show with absolute anticipation.

"I... I think I love her.", a young adult boy was saying quietly.

There was a pause on the show as Perry sat up a bit more to watch as the other person sat up.

"Alright, alright. I'm up! What do you wanna talk about?", a younger boy with a light British accent asked with an annoyed and tired tone in his voice.

"Uh... I said it.", the first said, slightly nervous.

"'His SISTER? Derek loves Steven's STEP-SISTER?'", Perry gaped at the TV. "'Where'd that come from? What about Heather? Why aren't you fighting Fred for her?'"

Ferb explained the day to Phineas, after agreeing how much in love with Vanessa he really was. Phineas was more pleased to hear.

"You should totally go for her.", Phineas teased, after listening.

"Phineas, please. Like I'd win her over.", Ferb rolled his eyes.

"Well you've been trying, right?", Phineas asked. "What's gonna stop ya? You're living just a few blocks away from each other and you're talking more to get her attention. There's nothing in the world that can stop you from this."

"Okay, first of all, Vanessa and I aren't like you and Isabella.", he teased. "Secondly, you're obviously not in your right mind since you've been watching soap operas so shut up."

Phineas rolled his eyes away as a nervous blush came across his face. Then Isabella poked her head in, curiously.

"Did someone call for me?", she asked.

"No!", Phineas said quickly, hoping she wouldn't hear Ferb's earlier remark of them.

The next week while Phineas was sick in bed. Everyone else found something else to do and when Isabella wasn't busy looking after Phineas, she was with her fireside girl scout troupe as usual. Sometimes Vanessa came over, sometimes he did. When they went to town, Ferb would walk around with Vanessa, check some things out at the library, or just sit and talk about things in their backyards or wherever. Today the option of action was building telepathic ear buds.

"So, where'd you learn to be such a good inventor?", Vanessa asked as they worked.

"Just something I taught myself.", Ferb shrugged as he pulled up a small blowtorch. "It's just something that helps me unwind."

Vanessa chuckled, "When I was little my dad always wanted me to learn how to build inators with him."

There was some means of a disappointed tone at the end of the sentence as she actually thought about that when she said it and Ferb couldn't help noticing.

"...Has he gotten any better at paying attention to you?", he asked, now pulling up a screwdriver.

"Mm.. Kinda... Sometimes.", she shrugged a bit, pausing in her work. "He.. Well like, sometimes he's putting his work ahead of me but other times, I think he's just trying too hard to be too good of a parent. And I know he doesn't want me to get emotionally scarred from a neglectful parent or anything like how he was and such, but I don't really think he means it and is just trying too hard to be over protective and annoying. I mean.. Is it just me or what do you think?", she asked, looking over.

Ferb thought about it for a moment before giving a shrug and saying, "If he's trying a lot to be over protective, then that must mean he really cares about you. I mean it's obvious he cares, right?"

"I suppose but does he have to smother me?"

"Well does he smother you or does he ignore you?"

"Sometimes he's ignoring me, sometimes he's smothering.", Vanessa shrugged and rolled her eyes. "It goes back and forth."

"It sounds like he really cares about you but...sometimes he either has a hard time showing it correctly or is kinda held back by his own work."

"Well it's not like he has to be evil.", Vanessa rolled her eyes. "It.. It doesn't matter. In a couple of years, I could finally stop seeing him so it's not like it matters anyway."

Ferb shrugged and continued to work, but when Vanessa, curious as ever, asked about his mom, he froze dead in his tracks as an unmistakable look of surprise was on his face. He quickly snapped his head up and looked at her.

"What?"

"Well you said your Phineas' step-brother. So that means that your mom isn't Mrs. Flynn, right? Did you inherit your mechanical skills from your mom?", she asked again.

Ferb was suddenly very still and Vanessa soon caught on the fact that she was trespassing on some personal grounds and started to backtrack.

"Uh.. N-never mind I uh..", she began to say, turning away.

"No no.. It's okay it's just... Well, like Phineas, I never knew my mother. So... I.. I can't really say.", Ferb shook his head with a shrug and then started using a very small toothpick. "...Kinda the reason why I'm actually surprised you're so upsetted by your dad."

"Oh.. Really? I just thought were trying to be nice."

"Well that and... Well I heard they divorced when I was young so, again, I never knew her. But you know your dad so it's a little weird for me to hear, 'yeah my parents are divoirced, I know my dad, and he annoys me'. No offense."

"No, none taken. I can understand. Sorry. Don't mean to bother you."

"No you're fine. He's obviously irksome which, I suppose, would make sense. Someone watching you like a hawk and at the same time ignoring you. You're fine. I'm glad you feel free to talk to me about this.", Ferb smiled at her briefly and resumed working, now using small pliers.

Vanessa watched him for a moment, feeling oddly happy to see he wasn't upset. They changed the topic and conversations varied.

"So... Hey! Sup with all the tools?", she asked, finally noticing.

Ferb opened a door in their garage, revealing an entire room with all the walls covered with tools galore. Vanessa stared, surprised and walked in, looking around. Ferb followed with a small smile on his face.

"My collection, I guess you could say.", Ferb simply said.

Vanessa gave an impressed whistle as she looked more.

"My dad would love it in here."

"My brother would never come out which is why I lock it.", Ferb joked with a laugh.

"Ha ha! So hey, what is up with Phineas? He's been sick all week?", Vanessa asked as they started coming out and going back to their work.

"Oh yeah. Well when he doesn't get better on the first day, him being sick is the only way he'd learn patience.", Ferb indicated, making Vanessa laugh.

* * *

_Okay first off, if you know the songs and think anything's outta character, first off Vanessa would at least listen to Bawitidba. Secondly Bob Dorough's awesome. Even with the romance. He's freaking awesome in his work and with a nice afternoon with a good cup of coffee and a loverly lady, heck yeah Ferb would think about that song for the situation. Please no grief over song selections._

_Also, allow me to explain Perry's soap earlier. u_u;; Sorry, when I read over it again, it sounded gay and bi but it's not. It's a scene from an original story I've talked of and haven't written yet called Mixed Nuts where (in this scene) a guy (Derek) is in love with his best friend's step-sister (Steven's sister Maggie) and Steven's surprised by it. They... Well they live underground and the boys share a bedroom and the girls share their own so Steven was trying to sleep and Derek was trying to tell him he loved Maggie. Yeah. Sorry if anyone was confused by it or anything, just wanted to explain myself lest there was a bad review about it.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

Once the ear buds were created, they put them on to try them out. The buds worked in the fashion that you wear them like any ordinary ear buds but each piece wraps around the ear and makes a small connection with the nervous system to not only receive what the brain sends out but also what the ear takes in.

'Well is it working?', Ferb was asking in his mind after Vanessa turned them on.

"Whoa. It's like you're doing ventriloquism or something.", Vanessa chuckled.

Ferb gave a smile, 'Then I guess it's true. The quietest people have the loudest minds.'

'Which is weird cause I don't think it's really possible to raise the volume of your own thoughts. Unless you're remembering hearing something loud like a concert.', Vanessa began to think to herself. 'Thinking of that, I wonder if maybe Mom has a point and I have the volume up too high on my stereo. But Dad doesn't seem to mind but then again, with his power tools whirring all day long, I wouldn't be surprised he was half-deaf.'

'I dunno. I'm pretty sure you could scream in your mind like Candace does.', Ferb interjected, scratching his head a bit from the fast-going thoughts.

'Oh! Sorry I didn't mean to be thinking aloud.', Vanessa half-joked.

Ferb chuckled, 'Wow. Smart and a great sense of humor.'

'What?', Vanessa asked, wondering if that was supposed to be something more of a compliment.

"Uh, nothing.", Ferb quickly said, taking his ear buds out. "So you like them?"

"Yeah but it's giving me a bit of a headache.", Vanessa chuckled, rubbing her temples a bit. "It's that or the headache's just cause my mom's making me stop from drinking caffeine."

"Ooh that's gotta be harsh.", Ferb groaned a bit. "I'm not really getting a headache so much as just a... I'd wanna call it a 'brain-itch' really."

Vanessa couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Hey, great design for these. I didn't think that black and purple worked together like that.", she said, taking one out and looking down at it.

"I thought you might like it like that. You can keep them if you want.", Ferb smiled with a slight shrug.

"Really? Thanks!", Vanessa got a curious idea then. "Hey, what if then next time we got together, like when Phineas is better again, we wear them during the projects?"

"Why?"

"Cause then it's like we can share jokes and stuff that no one else knows about. It'd be really funny.", Vanessa explained with a chuckle.

Ferb thought about it for a moment.

'What if I thought about her and she found out? Well can't I take out the ear buds then? But she was kinda close catching me this time... It'd be pretty embarrassing if she caught me while we were wearing them. But at the same time, I don't wanna disappoint her.', Ferb settled on giving a shrug. "Maybe not all the time but..."

"Oh yeah, course not ALL the time."

"Thank you."

"Yeah. No. I mean, that's the whole point of keeping thoughts to yourself. A little peace, right?"

"Yes. Very much when Phineas gets excited about something.", Ferb joked, rolling his eyes.

"Right or when my dad rambles on about something.", Vanessa agreed, laughing a bit.

'Hm.. I wonder what Phineas DOES think about..', Ferb thought for a moment.

Meanwhile, Phineas played the Quirky Worky Song in his mind as he poured himself a glass of water. There was a tap on his shoulder and he jumped and whirled around to find a stern looking Isabella. Without so much of a word, she pointed back to his bed and he glumly obeyed. Then Vanessa noticed how late it was starting to get and checked her watch.

"Oh shoot. Speaking of parents, my mom wants me home by now. Later Ferb."

"See ya, Vanessa."

"Thanks again for the telepathic ear buds.", she said, heading out.

Ferb heard a soft tapping behind him and looked up to see Phineas looking out his window, holding up a sign that read, "kiss the girl". Ferb gave a warning death-glare and Phineas lowered it with a teasing smile and walked away, his attention drawn elsewhere. Ferb walked back in the house in time for Phineas to come zipping into the kitchen with a wide smile on his face and his hands raised high in the air.

"YES! I get to run around! I get to move!", Phineas was saying excitedly.

"Oh no you don't!", Isabella commanded, hooking him with her hand on the back of his shirt. "Phineas, you're supposed to just move to the couch. Not run everywhere like a crazy animal."

Phineas gave a groan and pouted but followed his orders anyway. Ferb couldn't help but chuckle as he watched his brother being bossed around by the very girl he loves.

The next day, Ferb was ready for a great day. His tools were rearing to go. His dad was going to the antique store in town in a few hours. Everything was set up for the best day ever, except for one thing...

'Hey, where's Vanessa?', Ferb began to ponder. 'She should be here by now...'

While he was waiting, Linda was coming out into the backyard with a small box in hand.

"Oh there you are Ferb. You think you could run this by Charlene's house? I forgot to give her back her books from our boo-"

Ferb didn't need to be asked a second time. He quickly snatched up the box and went running down the street.

"-k club...", Linda finished with slight surprise.

When Ferb arrived at the house, he noticed the car was gone. He walked up, rang the doorbell, but there wasn't an answer. There wasn't anyone. Ferb waited on the porch but after a couple of hours, he wasn't sure what to be thinking anymore. Finally a car pulled up into the driveway and Charlene stepped out.

"Oh! I'm sorry, were you waiting for me?", she asked when she saw Ferb.

Ferb gave a nod and held up the box of books.

"I'm sorry, I must've forgotten them from our book club yesterday.", Charlene apologized when she saw the contents.

She began to unlock her door and grab the box from Ferb when he piped up and asked quietly, "Um.. Isn't Vanessa here?"

"Oh, no. No no, she's with her father this weekend. Didn't she tell you?", Charlene explained, surprised at the question.

Ferb silently shook his head, having no idea of the plan. He explained how he thought they were to meet up that day and Charlene was kind enough to say where she was in town so they could. Ferb gave a thanks and hitched a ride to town with his dad.

Vanessa was busy painting her nails on the couch as Heinz was asking her a couple of questions about how things have been since they last met.

"You like the new house okay?", he asked as he worked away on his next inator.

"Yeah, it's okay. The bedroom's bigger but I wish mom would let me have the basement to myself.", Vanessa shrugged.

"And the kids there?"

"There aren't a lot my age, but I kinda know them. One of them I uh, mentioned to you when you picked me up in Paris, remember? Ferb?"

"Oh yeah. That-"

The doorbell, themed after his evil jingle, cut him off and he walked over. Ferb waited at the door patiently, hoping he didn't choose the wrong one by mistake. He wondered briefly if anyone else had done something like that, when the door opened to not Vanessa but Heinz. The older looked at the younger in slight confusion and the vice-verse. Ferb finally cleared his throat, taking a guess it was Vanessa's dad and tried to put on a smile.

"Hi, I'm Ferb. Uh.. Is Vanessa here?", he asked, hoping to sound polite.

A surprised expression crossed the other's features when he turned into the room and called her over.

"Ferb?", she was surprised to see him there.

"Hey, Vanessa.", Ferb smiled more genuinely and relaxed a bit.

"Dad, this is my friend Ferb. The one I was just telling you about.", Vanessa explained.

"Oh! The one you were with at the Eiffel Tower...", he smiled and gave a nod of acknowledgement before frowning in confusion and looking back at him curiously. "..Wait, THIS is him? I thought he was older..."

Ferb gave a slight look of confusion but Vanessa simply rolled her eyes, stepped out and closed the door behind her, telling her father she'd be back in a moment.

"Sorry about my dad. He says a lot of stupid stuff.", she apologized.

"No it's okay I.. You make me sound older?", he asked curiously.

"I don't know where he got that. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I thought we were going to hang out today. Remember?"

"Oh! Shhhoot, I forgot about Dad's weekend when I said that..", she face-palmed herself and groaned.

"Well if you're spending time with your dad, I guess I could just-", Ferb began, feeling a little awkward now.

"No no. It's okay I don't really-", she began, trying to not run him off cause of her freak-parent.

"No. It's cool. I was in town with MY dad but I could-"

"Ferb, please come on it's-", Heinz couldn't help but crack the door open a bit, listening in on the conversation.

"No. Another time, another place, it's okay. You hang out with your dad, you're fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah it's fine. You should get the chance to hang out with im. It's your weekend, right? Come on. I'll be okay.", he waved it aside.

"Okay. Well then.. Later, I guess.", she shrugged.

"See you around.", Ferb gave a smile and started heading back down the hall, feeling slightly awkward for even being there now.

After he was out of ear shot, Vanessa turned around to find her father leaning in the doorway, with a wide and mischievous grin on his face.

"...What?", she asked, bewildered by the look.

"How on earth do you pick up all the weirdest guys?", he asked with a slight shake of head.

"What? Dad, Ferb's just a friend.", Vanessa said with an unmistakable blush on her face as she walked past him.

"Vanessa, remember when I told you that guys can always tell when other guys like a girl? Especially dads?", he started to say, following her in.

"Especially paranoid dads like you?", Vanessa said, keying on "paranoid".

"Well right now that whole thing is VERY obvious to me. I don't think I have ever seen a guy more madly obsessed about any girl ever."

"Where'd you pull that from?", Vanessa said, completely lost now. "Dad, all he was doing was coming over to hang out and then he decided to leave so I could be with you."

"Exactly! Hello! Love-struck if I EVER saw it!", Heinz was saying.

"No. No. No no no no. NO.", Vanessa shook her head.

"Uh, yes. Yes. Yes yes yes yes. YES.", he argued, still smiling.

"Dad, if you wanna talk about weird guys, take a look in the mirror and also how on earth could you even tell if Ferb had ANYTHING for me by a simple, 'Hey? What's up?'"

"Vanessa, no guy, unless desperate for attention..."

"Or ten years old..", she muttered under her breath.

"...would come up to a girl's house while she's visiting her father to ask, 'how's it going?'.", Heinz finished. "And I don't think he's desperate for attention."

"Okay, you know what? I'll prove you you're wrong.", she started to say, standing up and grabbing her purse.

"Oh, you're gonna prove me wrong?", Heinz said, folding his arms across his chest and watching her expectantly. "How so?"

"I'm gonna go out there, hang out with Ferb the whole day, come back, report everything, and I'll PROVE to you he has NO interest in dating me at all.", she said defiantly as she began to walk out the door. "I'll be back in time for dinner. Besides, I was gonna hang out with Johnny and Lacey at the mall anyway."

"Alright you do that."

"I will.", and with that, she left the room.

Heinz looked at the closed door for a moment before suddenly turning on himself and asking aloud,

"Wait, what am I doing? Did I just send her on a date?"

Perry, who had been patiently waiting in a chair on the far side of the room, only shrugged his shoulders with a bewildered look.

'Is Vanessa really that blind?', he asked in his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

As Ferb was heading out of the building, Vanessa finally caught up.

"Hey Ferb wait!", he looked back, surprised to see her coming up from the elevators. "I was just talking to my dad and he said it was cool if we hung out. I mean, if you don't have any other plans."

Ferb felt his spirits lifting and he happily agreed to her company.

For the next few hours, they walked about the mall, hanging out and talking. Vanessa explained how she was planning on meeting her friends and they talked about weird prices, odd fashions, and simple stuff for the most. They had stopped by a music store, when Vanessa couldn't help but look over and see her friends just a ways off.

"Oh hey, Ferb! There they are. Lacey! Over here!", Vanessa called out, earning her friend's attention.

When the two groups merged, introductions were in order.

"Ferb, this is Lacey, her boyfriend Brock, and my boyfriend Johnny.", Vanessa introduced.

Ferb's eyes were slightly widened, hearing of Johnny as Vanessa's boyfriend.

'Enter the opposition.', he thought in his mind as he looked up at the teenage boy.

"Hey, Ferb.", the taller boy greeted with a casual shrug.

Ferb didn't say much but gave a polite nod. They walked into the store and while Lacey checked out a couple of CDs, Brock looked at some new headphones, and Vanessa, Johnny, and Ferb were over by the instruments. Johnny was trying out playing a guitar and Vanessa and Ferb listened but Ferb couldn't help but look around at other things as Johnny played.

'You sound like that Bawitdiba song...', Ferb thought in his mind during the song.

"Hey, Ferb, you play guitar, right?", Vanessa asked when Johnny was done.

Ferb gave a nod and shrugged with the reply, "Yes, but it's not my best instrument."

"What do you play then?", Johnny asked.

"Some things, not a whole lot.", Ferb replied, lightly strumming one of the guitars hanging on the wall.

"Care to show?", Vanessa asked earnestly. "Come on, if you and Phineas MAKE songs, I'm sure you can play something good."

Ferb was hesitant at first, not used to being in the spotlight but obliged and picked up a guitar anyway.

"It's probably not gonna sound anything like the real thing, but I'll take a crack at it.", Ferb said as he put it on and began "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse.

I'm desperate for changing,

Starving for truth.

I'm closer to where I started.

Chasing after you.

I've fallen even more in love with you.

Letting go of all I held on to.

I'm standing here until you make me move.

I'm hanging by a moment here with you.

The song was soon interrupted by Johnny who asked if he could play something faster. Ferb sighed briefly but obliged the teenage boy by playing Cliffs of Dover by. It certainly was a surprise to the two as well as others in and outside the store who heard and wondered over to listen. When Ferb finished, he looked back at Johnny expectantly while the small crowd applauded.

"Wow Ferb! Where'd you learn to play THAT?", Vanessa smiled in amazement.

"Well you know, I've put in a lot of practice.", he shrugged, trying to hide a smile at Johnny's silence.

The group left the store and talked a bit more. Johnny glanced back at Ferb who trailed a bit behind and placed a shoulder around Vanessa, silently reminding the other who's who. Ferb took the hint but remained silent until the girls were looking around a candle store. Vanessa was trying to find a new scent for her room and as soon as three of the five left, the two scowled at each other.

"Back. OFF.", Johnny warned harshly.

"Make me.", Ferb said, looking elsewhere. "Cause I'm not gonna step down for a wannabe-punk like you."

"Oh a WANNABE?", Johnny growled, now turning on him fully.

"Johnny, I'm from England. The home of the punk genre. If I didn't know Vanessa was so into punk things, I would've mistaken you for emo or goth.", Ferb retorted, turning back around to scowl at him.

"Why you little-", Johnny and Ferb saw Vanessa coming and quickly assumed the position of seeming to have nothing much to do.

Johnny was looking around on the shelves and Ferb quickly pulled out a small book to glance at. They looked back at the on coming girl and were both asked their opinion of the candle she was carrying.

"I think whatever you pick is gonna be fine.", Johnny said with a shrug and a smile.

"Really? Mm.. What do you think Ferb?", she asked turning to him.

Ferb observed the candle briefly before shaking his head and saying, "This is supposed to cover the smell of motor oil in your room with your dad right?"

"Yeah? What, don't you like the scent?"

"No it's not that. It's a great scent but I wouldn't go with that brand, you see for there in lies the problem. It's more expensive and less effective to over-power other smells. I would instead recommend...", Ferb looked down the aisle a bit, finally found a candle and offered it to her. "this."

Vanessa took it, took a whiff and gave a pleasing smile.

"You sure this'll help?"

"If not at least make your bedroom smell like motor oil AND vanilla.", Ferb joked a bit. "My sister uses it all the time in her room because of Phineas and I. I'm sure it'll work. And it's cheaper."

She gave a quick thanks, got a small stock and went to the check-out counter. Ferb silently chalked one up for himself and Johnny's demeanor went south. Throughout the store, the battle for Vanessa's attention continued. Ferb often gained a point over his opponent, giving slightly better advice when Vanessa asked but Johnny would often retort this by interesting her in something she more personally liked that Ferb didn't know about. But as Vanessa and Lacey were talking with Brock walking behind the group and Johnny and Ferb walking in the middle, Lacey couldn't help but notice a bright summery dress hanging in a window.

"Ugh, Vanessa, check it out. Who on earth could wear such bright colors.", she cringed a bit. "I mean unless your parents were forcing you, of course."

"Oh man, I know right?", Vanessa laughed at it.

Ferb took a glance at it and then looked back with a shrug.

"What's wrong with it?", he asked, feeling clueless.

"Uh, Dude?", Johnny snickered. "That's like, only something a perky cheerleader would wear."

"And the problem is...?", Ferb continued to question, still not getting it. "I mean I live with a sister who would wear that."

"Well Ferb it's just that.. Well... We're punks. And that's a dress that a punk wouldn't wear so we tend to make fun of it like that.", Vanessa explained. "I mean come on, it's so.. colorful."

"So... Just because it's not punk, you tend to ignore it as much as possible?", Ferb asked curiously.

"Um... Well..", The group kinda trailed off now feeling rather put on the spot to seem rude.

"Well they're so darn happy all the time, those peppy weirdos.", Johnny shrugged. "It's kinda fun to make fun of them. Who could be so happy all the time?"

'Phineas...', Vanessa thought to herself.

"My step-brother's happy almost all the time. When he's not sick he IS happy 24/7.", Ferb shrugged. "But keep in mind he has no earthly idea of his biological father, he has a mother that constantly ignores him, a sister who's always yelling at him, a nerd, bully, and fireside girl scout for his only real friends, not counting me, and can still find a way to smile at the day and keep moving on with life. Now just cause he's all perky and I'm not, do I have to bash him? Or will I be bashed for standing up for such a perk?", Ferb asked with a shrug, for once, forgetting about his side competition with Johnny or even what Vanessa may think and say about him. "To me, it doesn't matter what clique you are, just who you are. If you're rude, then yeah. People aren't exactly gonna be the nicest. But if you're a good person, why hate them cause they're different?"

There was a moment of thoughtful silence, Lacey seemed bought, Brock hadn't even noticed, Vanessa was even considering what he just said but Johnny decided to pull them aside, wanting to be stuck in his normal frame of mind, and suggested lunch for everyone. Ferb sighed, feeling forgotten but followed the group anyway. After they all got something and sat down in the food court, the group laughed and talked but Ferb remained quiet. He realized as he watched everyone else how awkward everything really was and suddenly felt more left out than ever before. As Lacey and Brock went to get refills, Vanessa couldn't help but notice this odd silence and asked him about it.

Ferb gave a shrug and said quietly, "Nothing's wrong. I just.. Don't have a lot to say I guess."

Vanessa felt like she wanted to say something but before she could, Johnny pulled her aside and decided to give her a kiss, knowing how much it'd hurt Ferb. And to add insult to injury, the taller even dumped his cup of soda on Ferb's lap, causing the smaller to jump up and groan. He stormed off to the bathroom before anyone decided to think he wet himself and when Vanessa pulled back and looked around, she couldn't find Ferb anywhere.

"Hey where's...?"

"We're back.", Lacey announced as she and her boyfriend came up.

"Hey, let's blow this place. Dunno 'bout you guys, but I'm done.", Johnny said, standing up.

Vanessa stood too but still looked around for Ferb. Johnny placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly and reassured Ferb would catch up soon.

"Mm.. I guess you're right.", Vanessa shrugged, not really feeling like she meant it.

They walked off and Ferb walked back some minutes later after he dried himself off. He saw the empty table, knowing this is where they were eating and looked around, soon seeing Johnny and Vanessa walking out the doors.

'...Well played Johnny... Well played..', Ferb growled in his mind.

He walked out, not even caring if he caught up with anyone and stayed with his dad in the store the rest of the day till he got a lift home. Vanessa returned to her own home, retelling everything to her dad. Everything, that is, that she knew of. She hadn't known anything of Johnny and Ferb's fights but Heinz got the understanding that they were fighting by what she merely said.

"...Yeah, he's got it pretty bad.", Heinz analyzed, stirring his dinner a bit more.

"Ugh, Dad, I don't get it. How could you get that? He's just trying to be a nice guy! And he's like, what? Ten? That wouldn't make any sense!"

"He's ten? He sounded like... 20.", Heinz shrugged.

"Sounded like-? Dad did you see how-? Trust me Dad! he's just a kid. All he's done was just try to be a nice guy.", Vanessa reassured, flabbergasted that Heinz hadn't taken into account Ferb's small size. "I am positive, there's no secret affection for me from Ferb Fletcher."


	6. Chapter 6

Ferb stormed up to the house, pausing momentarily as he remembered Johnny's earlier scene.

"I will conquer this..", he growled to himself before heading inside.

When he walked in, Phineas perked up, glad to see his brother again but was cut short of his question by the same person.

"I DIDN'T.", he said, stopping Phineas in mid sentence.

He went up stairs, changed his pants and groaned, laying back on his bed, thinking over the day. Had he not only been humiliated, left behind, and one-up by personal preferences Johnny happened to know about, he was now probably either a real weirdo or a simple nobody in Vanessa's life. There had to be a way for him to get back at this. There had to be something he could do to impress her. Something that Johnny can't top. After giving it a moment of thought, he opened up his cell phone and began to dial.

Vanessa couldn't think much about anything else on that day after her father's rant. It didn't add up in her mind. No matter how hard she tried. Yeah, he was being really nice to her during the day but then he suddenly bailed out on them. Or maybe his dad needed to take him home. Maybe she should call him. Find out what really happened. She picked up her cell and tried calling, but there wasn't any answer. The phone on his end was busy and she simply sighed and tossed it aside, not wanting to leave a voice mail. She flopped onto her bed and looked up, letting her mind wander over the day. She had to admit though, as crazy as her dad sounded in thinking Ferb may have a crush on her, Ferb had an obvious passion for music. The way he played in the mall earlier, it wasn't like Johnny who just sat and played. He actually got up and danced with it almost. Like it was controlling him instead of the vice-verse. She remembered back to their first mall expedition and had to laugh a bit when she remembered being caught on the string of lights.

'Yeah right Dad. If Ferb liked me, how come he didn't do anything about THAT sorta situation after he destroyed the lawn mower?', she asked herself. 'There's nothing to worry about Vanessa. So you can calm down now. I mean, what's gonna happen? You'll end up falling for HIM? I'm WAY too smart for that sorta sad and cliche plot. If Ferb liked me, he'd have to try REALLY hard to prove it to me.'

As if on cue, her phone rang and she picked it up, surprised to find it was the very boy she was thinking of.

"Uh.. What's up?", she asked after introductions.

"Oh well I was uh.. Kinda wondering if you were available tomorrow night.", Ferb was asking as he tapped his foot.

'Snap, I didn't mean he had to ask me out! Vanessa, it's not like that!', she argued with herself before finally saying she was free.

"Well great because I called some friends of mine, pulled a few strings and got tickets to that concert with Scraping Fangs tomorrow.", he explained. "I could bring you, Johnny, and a friend ot two if you'd like."

Vanessa sat straight up on her bed, shocked to hear this from Ferb.

"What? How did-?"

"I know the band that's playing after them.", Ferb said with a shrug in a smile, wanting to laugh at her surprise.

"You know Love Handel?"

"I helped them get back together. Well... With Phineas, of course. So, if you want..."

"Yeah! Oh my gosh Ferb! You're awesome!", Vanessa said, overwhelmed with excitement.

'YES!', Ferb said in his mind, feeling like he was finally moving up the line a bit. "So, 9?"

"Totally! Me, Lacey, and Johnny will totally be there."

"Perfect. I'll see you then.", and with that, they hung up.

Ferb flopped back onto his bed, proud of what had happened and glad that things went much smoother than he feared. Vanessa, meanwhile, was a buzz with ecstasy. Her favorite band at a concert tomorrow. Tickets she was desperately trying to get a hold of and are now just gift wrapped for her. After hugging her pillow for a moment or two, an odd thought suddenly settled on her mind.

'Wait... That was almost... TOO coincidental... How did Ferb know I wanted to go to that concert?

Oh, well I told right on the first day I moved there I wanted to go. Still.. That was a little weird. It's like he was reading my mind and I didn't even have the ear buds in.', she thought as she double-checked finding she was right. 'Dad... Couldn't have a point...would he? ...No. No no. He knew I wanted to go, so he was probably just being nice and called in a favor for me. He's polite like that, I'm sure.'

She called up her friends and made the arrangements. When tomorrow came, Vanessa was so excited. Ferb, however, was probably even more so. There was only a limited number of seats they could have so it was that or nothing. As he handed out the tickets, Johnny looked at his in slight confusion then looked over Vanessa's shoulder, finding himself even more confused.

"Uh.. Ferb-dude? How come mine's different from everyone else?", he asked.

Ferb gave a shrug, "It was all they had available."

"Johnny, come on be nice. If it wasn't for Ferb, we'd have to be listening to this thing over the internet or something.", Vanessa reminded him.

"Beside, I was guaranteed these seats would be unbelievable.", Ferb reassured with something of a smirk.

He was right. Johnny's seat WAS unbelievable. It was behind the whole thing. Some rows away. Positioned just so that the lighting-frame work and the screens and such were blocking a good chunk of the stage from his view. And surprise of surprises, as Johnny sat down with a groan, he quickly jumped back up finding himself sitting in an old, sticky, wet left over soda from whoever sat there last.

'I'm gonna kill him...', he growled in his mind, sitting on his jacket instead as he folded his arms across his chest.

Everyone beside him had a wonderful time down in the 20th row. With the drums beating, everyone up and dancing, and the guitar solos racking themselves around in their chest as people continued to scream about nothing, who wouldn't have a great time? When Vanessa and Lacey went to take a bathroom break during band-changes though, Vanessa was found in a world of humiliation.

"Lacey you could NOT be serious!", she argued with, her previous joy forgotten as she stormed back out of the stall and glared at her friend's.

Lacey came out, smoothing out her skirt and simply looked at her expectantly.

"Girl, come on. You meet him a week ago, introduce him to us YESTERDAY, and all of a sudden he pops up with tickets to one of the greatest concerts ever? You don't have to be a guy to see that he's REALLY trying to impress you."

"Okay, first off, Ferb and I have known each other before.", Vanessa began as she went to wash off her hands. "Just.. One or two random occurrences. Secondly, I TOLD Ferb, I liked the band. He was just trying to be a good friend. He knew Love Handel, Love Handel was playing, so he got tickets. There's NOTHING there!"

"No no no! Really think about it!"

"I HAVE thought about it."

"You think about him? Do YOU like him?"

"NO!", her cheeks turned a few shades more pink as they went to dry off their hands. "Lacey, I've thought over what you AND my annoying dad have both been saying and I can't bring myself to think it's true!"

"Well think about it like this, if he DOES like you, don't you wanna know before you wind up getting into some really embarrassing situation? Like, what if he DID like you? That would be so...cute!"

"Lacey, he's ten years old. SIX years younger than me! And since when did you start becoming a love guru?"

"Well after hearing Ferb yesterday, I started thinking and decided I should be more honest with myself. I've always liked a good romance book.", she admitted with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, I'm not a book. You can't predict my future.", Vanessa argued.

"I'm not saying I could predict your future.", she said with a laugh as they walked out. "I'm just saying, it would be really cute! Besides, girls marry guys who are younger than them."

"6 YEARS younger? Look, Ferb doesn't like me. And besides, I'm already dating Johnny.", she finally closed the matter, not wanting to listen to anymore no matter how much Lacey attempted at it.

"...Well why don't you just ask him?", she said, finally catching the other's attention.

"ASK HIM?", Vanessa spun on her heels as she heard.

"Did I stutter? Ask if it's true and if it's not then it's not."

"And if it IS?"

"Well do you and Johnny actually DO any boyfriend-girlfriend things? Dates? I mean every time you come to the city, you always hang out with Johnny AND me.", she shrugged.

"That's cause I hardly get to see either one of you while I live with my mom."

"And Ferb's in two places at once. I'm not saying you should. Do what you want. But I'd be jealous if he DID like you. Besides, you said it's NOT true. So what's the harm in asking?", she said with a shrug.

They walked back into the concert hall and caught up with Ferb. As they enjoyed their music and such, Vanessa's mind couldn't help but churn on what Lacey had said. What her dad said. What she secretly wanted. She's tried so hard to convince her feelings other wise. It wasn't some sorta back-handed compliment to think he was cool or awesome. He was. She had to admit it. So if there was just some way for her to see it was for HER. That he really liked HER, it would help settle the matter. Any sorta special detail she may have over looked. But she couldn't find anything. The only thing that happened was that Ferb had to rest for a moment, saying his legs were sore and that when Love Handel played their usual ballad, Ferb quietly pardoned himself to go to the bathroom quickly understanding who the special "spot light of love" was for.

'Last time I ask them for a favor and mention a girl...', he thought to himself as he moved away, slightly blushing.

"Coward.", Bobby whispered to Sherman as Danny directed the lighting people to find another random couple.

But when the concert was over and everyone walked out, they laughed and talked when Johnny finally caught up to them.

"Oh there you are, Johnny!", Vanessa greeted with a smile. "Where've you been?"

Johnny gave an especially harsh glare to Ferb before coldly replying, "I was up behind the stage."

"Really? I could've sworn it was a really good seat.", Ferb said thoughtfully hiding a smile behind his fist. "I wonder how that happened..."

"You okay?", Vanessa asked, seeing he wasn't wearing his jacket.

"Oh yeah yeah. And I have GOT to thank you, Ferb. Really. The cherry soda on the seat was a wonderful experience.", he said sarcastically.

Ferb couldn't hide it this time, he broke out laughing hard.

"Oh shut up.", Johnny growled as his cheeks turned red.

The color on his face darkened when even Vanessa and Lacey couldn't help but come close to laughing.

"Sorry, Johnny but you gotta admit, if it was anyone else, that would be hilarious!", Vanessa said, trying hard not to laugh.

"Whatever.", he huffed, walking past them, down the sidewalk.

"No. Johnny! Come on, Johnny! don't be like that!", she said, catching up to them and stopping him by the shoulder. "I'm sorry. Look, we're just having some fun."

Johnny glared over his shoulder at Ferb, wanting nothing more at the moment than to shove him into the on going traffic nearby.

"Yeah.. I bet you guys are just having all sorts of fun.", he said coldly.

"Johnny.. You're acting as if the soda was MY fault.", Ferb said with a smile as he wandered over.

"Well after yesterday... I mean-!", he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, realizing what he was about to say but it was a little too late for Vanessa not to hear anything.

"Yesterday? What, what happened yesterday?", she asked, looking between the two.

Johnny didn't answer but looked away nervously. Ferb, however, just smiled to himself and waited expectantly, his eyes never leaving the guilty.

"Well Johnny? Since you brought it up, why not YOU tell her?", Ferb asked as his smirk widened.

"Johnny?", she asked, looking at him.

"I... Oh! Ugh, it doesn't matter anyway!", he spat, storming further off. "I'm going home."

"Johnny!", Vanessa called out, hoping he'd stay.

"This is the corner. I'm gone. Later, Ness.", he said, turning on the street and heading away.

The trio headed on but it was soon Lacey's turn to head home as her apartment building came up.

'Lacey, don't leave me alone with him!', Vanessa silently pleaded to her friend.

The other girl only raised and eyebrow with a smile, 'Ask him!'

Then there were two... Very, very, awkwardly two. Both with the same question on their mind though one more so than the other.

'Does he love me?', she asked herself as they walked on. 'Should I ask? Oh come on Vanessa, it's just a simple question and you know the answer.'

"So...", she began quietly.

"So...?", Ferb said, understanding there was a question and was curious of it.

"Um... Hey Ferb? There's uh... There's something I.. kinda wanna ask you..", she began, feeling her heart pounding hard against her chest as she stammered a bit.

"What?", he asked, wondering if it was the same question he was thinking about her. 'Love?'

"Uhm... uh...", she stopped to face him and he looked back. "...Wh.. What did happen yesterday?"

She could just kill herself at that moment for getting cold feet and Ferb felt his heart sank a bit.

'Oh..', he thought to himself disappointingly.

'DARN IT!', she swore to herself angrily. 'Ugh, it's a stupid question anyway.. I don't have to ask it...'

"Well, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.", Ferb said with a smile.

"Try me.", she pressed, keeping her outward appearance in a better mood.

"Alright. He spilled soda all over me while you two were kissing.", he said with a shrug and a smile.

Vanessa stopped for a minute, completely thrown off guard.

"...What?", she said, finally smiling but still looking clueless.

"At the food court. He spilled his soda all over my lap and I had to go to the bathroom. Don't ask me why. But he did.", Ferb chuckled.

"Oh! Man, I'm sorry. And sorry for just leaving like that, Johnny told me you'd catch up.", she apologized, laughing a bit herself.

"Really?", Ferb said, acting curious. 'Typical.'

"Yeah. I'm.. Wow. I don't know why he'd do that. I'm sorry we left you.", she said again.

"It's okay.", he reassured before trying to move onto another topic. "So, did you have a good time tonight?"

"Heck yeah! It's been one of the best nights ever!", she said with a smile on her face that made Ferb feel both relieved and flooded with joy that he made her so happy.

He smiled a bit himself and as they talked about the concert, they came up to the DEI and Vanessa turned in. Before they split ways, she quickly bent down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Ferb.", she said before heading inside.

All the way back home, no matter what the distance, Ferb could feel himself floating on cloud 9 rather than walking.

Vanessa walked into the DEI and came up to her father's penthouse. She took off her boots, quietly opened the door, and looked in to see him sitting in his recliner, facing the other direction. A silent and closer examination told her he was fast asleep with a book on his lap. Vanessa couldn't help but smile to herself and walked over to her room, careful of all the creaky parts to the floor. Upon reaching the doorknob, she felt her heart leap into her throat.

"Welcome home.", her dad greeted, surprising her.

She looked over to find him awake and looking back with a smile.

"So how DID the date go?"

Vanessa sighed with annoyance and turned to face him.

"It wasn't a date! We weren't dating! We aren't dating! He just took me, my friend, and my BOYFRIEND out to a concert!", she said.

Heinz couldn't help but laugh to himself and shrugged it off, heading for bed himself.

"Besides, Dad, aren't you supposed to be like, over protective or something if a guy likes me?", she asked as he walked out.

"Well it's like you said. You already HAVE a boyfriend and I tried to warn you he liked you.", he said, gaining one over her. "But if he comes here asking to take you out on an official date, I'm not gonna let him just waltz right in."

She groaned and they both retired for the night.

When Ferb finally reached home, it was very late. And unfortunately his dad forgot to leave a door unlocked for him like he asked.

'Well.. It is uncommon for me to be out like this.', he reminded himself.

He sat down on the porch, trying to think of a way to get in. He didn't wanna wake up the whole neighborhood. All doors were locked. The windows were closed and curtains shut. He circled the house a couple of times wondering if he could quickly scrap together a hook-shot and climb in through the chimney when he noticed something. One of the windows had a missing screen. Further more, it wasn't locked. Not by the looks of it. He could've been wrong. Curious to see if he was right, Ferb pulled over one of his tool boxes, climbed up, pushed up the window and found it wasn't locked. He looked around, wondering if anyone else was looking.

'Great. I'm breaking into my own house.', he thought to himself, unable to help but smile.

He climbed through, closed and locked the window and headed upstairs for bed. In the morning, the news was surprising to his parents and exciting to his little brother.

* * *

_When visiting someone for the weekend and what's the number one thing you HAVE to do before heading back? Stay up as late as possible. XP  
_

_Lol. Oh Love Handel... XD Lay off the poor boy!_


	7. Chapter 7

With Phineas back on his feet, the gang was soon back under the tree wondering about the day's plot. Buford came into the backyard then, a little later than usual.

"Sorry I'm late. Had to stop and get lunch.", he held up his hamburger to emphasis.

"Uh.. It's only 10.", Phineas noted.

"Well then, Brunch.", he shrugged and took another bite.

"Buford, you DO know what is in those things, right?", Baljeet asked, feeling a little sickened by the meal.

"Uh.. Pickles and beef?", he stated bluntly.

"Makes you wonder why it's called a HAMburger...", Isabella began to ponder.

"Well aside from the grease, what's with the sickly look, Baljeet?", Phineas asked.

"Uh.. As much as I would love to enlighten you.. I can not really say it with out needing to throw up...", Baljeet said, holding his stomach.

"Ooh... Sounds bad.. Wish we could find out.. Hey Ferb! I know what we're gonna do today!", Phineas popped up with a smile.

They worked on a lamp that, when shining light on a person, enlightens said person into understanding whatever question they have at the moment. As they worked, Ferb had to quickly stop and he rubbed his arm sorely.

"You okay Ferb?", Phineas asked.

"Yeah it's just..", Ferb groaned a bit, feeling the ache spread out in his body. "It's probably just the long walk back home last night.. Hard bed.. maybe?"

"Hm... Now that would be something for us to be enlightened about..", Phineas noted to himself. "Well if you wanna, you can take a break."

"I'm good.", he decided, trying to shrug it off.

It was soon finished and they shone it down on Buford who was looking into the hamburger, curiously. As soon as the light hit, his eyes widened and he quickly threw down the hamburger in disgust.

"Oh! Ugh! Oh man, I can't believe people EAT that!", he exclaimed. "And there isn't some really weird name for it that I'd never understand? They actually CALL it that? No-! No Greek-based name or anything?"

"Thank you!", Baljeet exclaimed in relief. "Finally you may eat in peace!"

"I seriously doubt it..!", Buford said, looking a few shades greener than normal.

"What? What's in it?", Isabella asked, coming over to understand.

'Mm.. I could probably use this to see if Vanessa likes me back...', Ferb began to ponder when his phone rang.

It was a text message and he felt his heart skip a beat when it was from Vanessa.

"Meet me at the coffee I need 2 talk w/ u privately" the text read.

It was easy to forget about the pain Ferb had been feeling that day. He quickly excused himself from the group and ran out as fast as he could to the meeting spot. Excited to see the love of his life. Hoping this would end in his favors. His heart was lighter than a feather and he was so blinded by this excitement that she wanted to talk with him NOW, that he couldn't see the downside that waited for him there.

Vanessa drummed her fingers impatiently at the coffee shop as she waited. It was a little ways out of the suburbs but it wasn't too far, she hoped. She had made it up in her mind that she would stop beating around the bush. It was high time to actually find out the truth to that nagging question in her mind and, though she couldn't form her thoughts of how exactly to ask him, finally make a decision about him, herself. She was surprised to see Ferb outside the coffee shop window though, racing down the street and slipping on something on the sidewalk by doing so. He picked himself back up, smiled sheepishly at her through the window and walked in, brushing himself off a bit. She had to giggle at the blush of embarrassment on his face. He saw Johnny waiting for his order at the counter and then looked back at Vanessa, somewhat curiously.

"He gave me a ride out here.", she explained. "I'm not.. No he's not really a part of this. It's still us."

The other seemed to relax with this and sat down opposite of her, asking what she wanted him for.

"Sorry, Ferb I uh.. Actually..", she began with a nervous laugh. "I.. Don't really...know how to ask you.."

She fidgeted and played with her hair as she tried hard to rack her brain into coming up with some way of saying what it is she wanted so badly to say. Ferb noticed she was wearing the telepathic ear buds at the time and held one of his up as she glanced over, silently offering to just go with that. She gave a nod and Ferb pulled the other out and placed them both in, catching onto her thoughts.

'Yeah, cause this is gonna be so... weird to say aloud.', she was thinking with a sigh. 'But this shouldn't be so hard to say.. I wonder if anyone else has ever had to go through this?'

'Through what?', he asked, curious of her anxiety.

'Well it's nothing really. I mean it should be nothing. It's actually kinda stupid. Just cause you showed up, it seems like everyone's been saying it and I know it's not true just cause it's so stupid! How on earth could you have a crush on me? I mean, you're only ten.'

As soon as he heard it, he felt his heart stop. Summer's heat suddenly felt like Winter's winds and it stung badly. His eyes became wide as he shakily took of his own buds just to hear the words echo in his mind. No other thought crossed him. Nothing else was heard. Vanessa saw his shocked expression and quickly understood she was wrong about something and had seriously hurt him.

"W-wait a minute! You-?", she began before Ferb quickly snapped back to face her and got up. "F-ferb-"

"No.", he said as he stood up, holding up a hand haltingly. "I-it's... Alright. It's..stupid.", his shoulder slumped as his heart sank into his stomach. "...It's really stupid..."

"N-no wait a minute, Ferb I didn't-"

"Vanessa, it's OKAY.", he said, starting to feel a little angry. "I mean.. After all, how on earth could a short, 17 year-old boy POSSIBLY win over YOUR heart. Especially when you've already got another one anyway."

It was Vanessa's turn to be surprised. He was what?

"It's a common mistake.", he said, seeing her expression. "My dad and I have kept it a life-long secret. I've always been shorter than most others. But you know, you're right. It's stupid for me to have a crush on you when I'm short and you've got a boyfriend."

He headed out with a sigh and shake of his head and Vanessa was left speechless, and heartbroken. After Johnny watched him leave, he came up, somewhat happy to see he still had his girlfriend and placed a reassuring arm on her shoulders. Vanessa flinched a bit, being snapped into reality again and looked up at him. Suddenly, everything was very different to her and she looked back down at the floor as she resumed being lost in her thoughts.

"You okay?", he asked finally, seeing she wasn't quite so happy.

"...Y-yeah.. I...", she finally said, a sob hidden in her voice.

She wiped a tear and tried to put on a smile, "I'm okay. Uh.. A-actually Johnny.. I.. I wanna go home.."

"Okay. We'll get on my bike and have the coffee at your dad's-"

"Actually I-I wanna go home to my mom's. I'm.. I'm supposed to be back soon a-anyway.", she said, wiping away a few more tears.

He simply nodded and they walked out. As they drove down the road on Johnny's motorcycle, her mind wouldn't leave what Ferb had said. How she was so wrong and had not only broken his heart but her own.

'Great going.', she thought to herself. 'Just made yourself even more of an idiot than your dad.'

She didn't remember what happened next other than sudden pain, loud noises, and everything becoming pitch black.


	8. Chapter 8

Heinz was busy rambling to Perry as the platypus sighed in his movie-reel themed trap.

"And I was like, 'what do you mean he's not gonna play me? Jim Carry would be the PERFECT actor for me!' and so then they suddenly started rapping at me about animation and I got thrown out. So that is why, Perry the Platypus, I have created the-!", he was suddenly cut off as the phone rang and he sighed and went to answer it.

He listened over the phone and after a moment gave a calm "thank you" and "good-bye" and hung up. He turned around on his heels and began to scream in mortal terror as he made a break for the door, surprising the monotreme a bit.

"I'M COMING!", he yelled as if the person it was intended for could hear. "See ya Perry the Platypus!"

Vanessa could hear voices and knew she was talking, but she wasn't fully conscious of what was going on. When she finally came to, she could hear the voices though nothing made sense. She cracked her eyes open, seeing she was in a bed. There was a window. A small tray with something weird on it. She assumed she was in a hospital. Her body quickly reminded her of the pain she was in as she turned her head to look around some more. Then two voices rang clear in her foggy mind.

"I am NOT yelling at you Heinz! I just can't believe you don't even know what your OWN daughter is up to!", her mom's voice was exclaiming.

"Charlene will you just CALM DOWN for a moment? I knew she was with her friends! I DIDN'T know she was coming back to YOUR place on YOUR day!", Heinz argued, equally angry. "Look, I don't wanna argue this with you!"

"Hey, you're making sure she's not hurt, right?", Charlene quickly snapped as a nurse passed by.

"Whoa whoa! If you're thinking about using THAT on her! Don't you know that stuff kills the skin?", Heinz growled at the doctor as he walked by with some medicine.

Vanessa sighed to herself, hearing and seeing her parents fight with each other and biting off the doctors and nurses that came in. Apparently, from what she could recollect, she was in a car crash but... Where was Johnny? A doctor came over, seeing she was awake and seemed to be annoyed with the worried parents behind him. He gently began to clean a bit more blood off of Vanessa's arm, making her flinch a bit.

"BE CAREFUL WITH HER!", Heinz and Charlene both yelled at the same time.

"I'M FINE!", Vanessa snapped though it was obvious she wasn't as she broke down into tears and held her head as a large throb swept by.

Both of the adults were thrown off guard, seeing their daughter yell back at them but before they had much time to react the nurses were quickly pushing them out of the room before they got another word in edgewise. The doctor seemed to relax a bit, hearing them stammer before the door suddenly closed in their faces. The ex-couple looked at each other for a moment, silently understanding that they were only stressing things out with their fighting. They took a look at each other and knew it was time to call a truce.

"...I'm sorry..", Heinz began, looking back at the floor in guilt.

"No, no I'm..", Charlene sighed in depression and held her head. "I'm sorry, Heinz. I'm just..."

"Yeah I know. Me too. We're worried and flustered with Vanessa.", Heinz nodded. "Hence, the yelling."

"I just... I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she was more hurt than this...", she shook her head with tears swelling up in her eyes.

The woman gave a shaky sigh, trying hard to suppress them but the tears ended up falling anyway. She wiped them away but when one fell, everything fell apart. Heinz, forgetting all awkwardness and just wanting to be supportive for SOMEONE if he can't be for himself, pulled her into a friendly hug. The two let a few tears fall, a couple of sobs from Charlene, and then finally broke apart again, allowing themselves to calm down much to the relief of everyone that was working on their daughter. Their precious, one-of-a-kind, little girl.

To take a step back in time, what had happened was that as Vanessa rode on Johnny's motorcycle, she lost herself in her own heartbreak between her and Ferb. Her boyfriend couldn't help but notice her off depression and glanced back to check on her. He didn't see the other car that was coming up at the intersection and the driver didn't see him in time either. The cars collided, Vanessa tumbled off the road with the bike into a ditch, landing underneath the bike and being knocked out from the hard landing. Johnny, however, took the worst of the hit and flew from the motorcycle, landing hard, fast, and face-planting into the rocks of the ditch below. The driver survived, though hurt, and managed to call for help.

Vanessa, now, laid in the hospital as she was being taken care of. She kept her gaze out the window but she was curious of something when she glanced about the room.

"E-excuse me Miss?", she asked quietly as a nurse tended to her. "Um.. There was someone else with me. A uh.. A Johnny? Black hair? Um... Where is he?"

The nurse's cheerful face fell into concern when the question was asked. Vanessa knew she was treading onto something bad here and almost wanted to back track.

"I'm.. I'm sorry Sweetie..", the nurse said as politely as possible. "But he.. Well when we found him in the ditch.. We.. We couldn't help him. He didn't make it."

Vanessa felt everything in her stop. She was surprised that there wasn't a flat-line on the heart monitor. Yet oddly, she couldn't bring herself to cry. Not even feel depressed. Just...shocked. Her punk-rock boyfriend, whom she always admired during her high-school life...was dead.

"Was he close to you?", the nurse asked, seeing her reaction.

"...N-no..", Vanessa finally said quietly. "Just...just a friend..."

In the suburbs, Ferb was walking into his backyard, still upsetted by the earlier scene with him and Vanessa. He hadn't known she was in trouble.

'She thinks I'm TEN?', he was still pondering in his mind. 'I mean, yes, I'm short but I thought that my.. my advanced knowledge or my voice. My VOICE should've been a dead give away to my puberty! Or how many 10 year-olds are as mature as I've been told to be?'

It was then that he saw what his friends had moved onto. They had lost their lamp but at the moment Buford let loose a rather large and unruly belch that blew back Phineas a bit. Baljeet smiled at him triumphantly.

"I told you.", Baljeet said tauntingly.

"It was good...", Phineas admitted with a shrug. "...but I've heard better."

There was suddenly an even louder and longer one that managed to blow back their hair. The three looked over to Isabella who had a proud smile on her face and a new patch on her sash.

"Try to top that one, boys.", she said proudly.

'...Okay well they ARE 10.', Ferb thought to himself as they headed inside. 'Teenagers can be around kids. Vanessa was.'

He walked inside, poured himself a glass of water and walked by the living room, catching a bit on the conversation between his parents while Lawrence watched his favorite show.

"Lawrence, honey.. Aren't you a little OLD to be playing with a doll?", Linda asked as her husband held onto a Pinhead Pierre doll.

"Honey! It's not a doll, it's an action figure!", her husband corrected immaturely, making his son face-palm himself.

'I DID NOT just hear that!', the boy thought to himself as he sighed and walked away quickly. 'I did NOT just hear my dad being a fan-boy over a very old cartoon show that no one cares about anymore...'

He walked past Candace who was busy arguing with Stacey over the phone about Ducky Momo.

"Yeah Ducky Momo's awesome! Just every bit as awesome as bangaroos!", she was saying.

'Yes, of course there's that. Surrounded by big children, I would appear as a child myself...', Ferb deducted in his mind.

Candace couldn't help but notice her brother's odd behavior and decided to pick up the conversation with Stacey later. She followed him into his room where Ferb fell on the bed, heaved a sigh and tried to clear his mind and resume his normal disposition.

"Hey Ferb? What's up?", Candace asked as she walked a bit more into the room.

"...Vanessa found out...", Ferb said after a moment.

"...And?"

"What do you expect?", he sat up. "Apparently Perry and I seem to be the only mature ones in this house."

Candace looked down at the Ducky Momo doll she was carrying and decided to set it down in the hallway instead before trying to say anything comforting to her brother.

"I don't mean you. That's expectant. But you know how it is..", he shook his head. "Just like everyone else my age when school comes along."

"Well.. Dad does say you're just getting ready for a growth spurt..", Candace tried to sound hopeful. "And pretty soon it's not like anyone's gonna care."

"Yes, but if I wish to have any means of a social life above my little brother's age, it would be nice to look the part.", he sighed. "I know drinking coffee doesn't exactly help but of course, when you're addicted, who really can stop?"

"I don't even really think it's the coffee, Ferb. Maybe Vanessa's just not your girl. I'm sure you'll find someone who'll like you for who you are, despite how tall you are. Look at me. I'm a crue de crayon and Jeremy likes me.", she tried to smile, hoping it would help.

It didn't really, but Ferb decided to only smile and go along with it. They shared a hug and Candace walked back out, picking up her doll as well as her conversation over the phone. Ferb sighed again and gazed back up at the ceiling. It seemed like everything would've been so wonderful had he just had the guts to say anything sooner rather than later. To admit his love sooner, possibly even before Johnny, all week had he the opportunity and now he knew what the other really thought. He began to wonder if she would ever know how much it pained him to still hear her words echo in his broken heart. Cause had he the chance to say something sooner, she would've known that unlike anyone he's ever met, his feelings for her were undying. And they shall always remain so. No matter what challenge arrived.

A few hours after being shoved out, Charlene and Heinz were finally allowed back into the room.

"Hey Hon...", Charlene greeted as she walked in. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Hi Mom. Unless I really move, the most of it's just a throbbing headache.", she managed a small smile.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, Vanessa.", Heinz apologized, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Dad, that's the thing about car crashes. They're not exactly planned.", she shrugged it off. "At least I got lucky and only got a broken leg and slight concussion."

"Thank goodness for that much.", Doof smiled a bit. "...But you still seem a bit..."

"Glum?", Vanessa offered, earning a nod. "Yeah.. Well..."

She sighed again and the parents took a glance at each other, guessing what it was.

"Johnny?", Charlene asked.

"If it's Ferb..", Heinz began to warn.

"No actually, you're right, Dad, but it's not like that..", Vanessa said with a shrug.

Heinz's eyes were wide with hearing he was right but Charlene still seemed confused.

"Ferb? Who, you mean Ferb Fletcher?", she asked looking between the two.

"Yeah, apparently he's got a little something for our daughter.", Heinz said with a slight smile towards Vanessa.

"Heh, try a BIG something...", Vanessa admitted with a sheepish smile before sighing again. "But... I kinda found out the wrong way.. And found out he actually IS about 20. Dad, you were right about him. He was fighting with Johnny for me but then I said some stupid stuff and he got mad at me... That's when Johnny and I started heading for Mom's and got into a crash."

She thought about what she said and finally came to the deduction that if she had acted smarter, or asked to go to her dad's instead of her mom's, if she had just asked last night when she had the opportunity or allowed Ferb to say something, anything other than what she DID do, Johnny wouldn't be dead. The overwhelming guilt of his death quickly fell on her and she couldn't hide the tear that slipped from her eye and fell down her face. Heinz Doofenshmirtz had always been worried, ever since her birth, that Vanessa would be emotionally scarred in some way or another. But even he couldn't have helped the pain she felt in realizing that it was by her fault, someone else had to die. Suddenly the idea of Ferb being there like how he always was came to her mind. How much of a relief it would be if Ferb was there, listening to her as she wanted to confess what her conscious was saying. Hear something encouraging and wise from him in return. Something, anything that would bring her the comfort she always felt when he was there for her. But to make matters worse in her mind, he wasn't there. He wasn't going to be there for her this time. He was probably so mad at her for what she had said, Vanessa resided to the fact that he probably wouldn't ever want to talk with her.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey, Ness, hon?", Heinz asked, pulling her from her train of thought and brushing some hair out of her face. "I'm sorry about all the yelling earlier."

"Me too, Sweetie.", Charlene agreed giving a nod. "We should've been more calm and supportive for you."

"It's okay guys. Really.", Vanessa smiled, kinda chuckling to herself. "I'm kinda used to it."

They both flinched a bit, feeling the small sting but they knew it was in playful jest and they very well deserved it.

"...Ouch.", Heinz admitted, giving a bit of a sigh. "That... was totally deserved."

"Sorry, Dad.", Vanessa giggled a bit.

"No no. It's okay. I'm used to THAT.", he smiled a bit. "Anyway, we should let you get some rest."

He started to guide her unwilling mother away as Vanessa gave a thanks and settled a bit more into the bed. Once in the hall Doof quickly took away his arm, hoping to avoid anything awkward.

"...Wow, I was right!", he exclaimed, allowing the ADD-urge to finally settle.

"First time for everything.", Charlene remarked, walking off with a slight smile.

Heinz growled a bit to himself and began to say in a sing-song tune, "I'm not lis-ten-ing!"

"You never do-oo!", she mimicked.

"Alright, you know what-?", he snapped, engaging the two of them in another fight as they walked out.

The next day it was inevitable Vanessa had some visitors. Lacey and her boyfriend came for a visit, Johnny parents, whom she only met once, even stopped by to say hi. Heinz and Charlene were back for a moment.

"Oh by the way, Hon. I, of course, had to tell my friends back at the suburbs and the Flynn-Fletchers are going to be stopping by today to check on you.

"Wha-?", Vanessa began to exclaim, sitting up until the pain reminded her of her condition and forced her to sit back down. "Why are THEY coming?"

"Honey, I thought you liked the Flynn-Fletchers.", Charlene said in slight confusion. "I'm sorry but Linda was asking and I had to say.."

"Yeah cause it's not like a lie would've helped save anyone any embarrassment.", Heinz muttered to himself.

"Shut it.", she quietly snapped. "Anyway, she was really insistent on coming over and I didn't want to say about what happened between you and Ferb the other day. So they should be here... at least in a while."

Vanessa sighed and sunk her head more into the pillow. She's been in awkward situations before. Heck, she lives with the KING of Awkward. But there couldn't be anything worse than getting ready to see Ferb again.

In the suburbs, Phineas was watching his brother, worried about him as Ferb resided to the music room. He was slumped over a piano, quietly plinking at the keys and singing with them the same song whenever something like yesterday had happened.

_People just ain't no good._

_I think that's well understood._

_You can see it everywhere you look._

_People just ain't no good._

"Phineas? Ferb?", Linda came down the hall, obviously worried which even made Ferb stop his playing. "Get your shoes on boys. We have to go."

"Where?", Phineas asked, curious of his mother's quick pace.

"Vanessa was in a car crash the other day and I told Charlene we'd stop by to visit her in the hospital.

Ferb's reaction was quick and predictable. He quickly came out of the room as his heart pounded in his ears.

"Is she alright? What happened?", Ferb asked quickly, feeling more and more alarmed by the minute. "Did you say she was in the hospital? Who was with her? Is Vanessa alright? Ow..."

He paused for a moment, to hold his chest as it suddenly ached in pain again. It seemed to be happening more and more lately.

"Ferb! Ferb! Relax! She's okay. Vanessa's in the hospital right now.", Linda explained, a little surprised by his outburst. "She has a broken leg, I don't know who all was with her, but in a few days she'll be able to return home to her mom. We're going to go visit her today."

Ferb seemed to relax a bit by this but was still panicked. After his mother was out of ear shot as the boys went to their bedroom, Ferb sighed and held his head.

"I can't believe this...", he muttered to himself.

"Well look at it this way, at least we'll be able to visit her.", Phineas said, being optimistic as usual.

Ferb remained quiet and sat on his bed. Phineas, as usual, got the idea of what he was thinking.

"...What, you're not coming?", he asked.

"Phineas, we had a dispute the other day. I'm the cause of her accident. The cause of her pain and anyone else who was with her.", Ferb was explaining.

"What? How?"

"Because I lost my temper the other day. If I acted better, she wouldn't have gotten upset. You don't need to be a genius to figure out she asked to be taken home and thus putting her and Johnny in the way of a car crash. Now I'm responsible for the injury of two people. More the merrier.", he groaned and shook his head. "Point is, if I go to see her NOW, after all that's happened. It would be beyond awkward. So, no. I don't really plan to go see her. As much as I would love to, believe me I would, it would be best to give her her space. She's probably furious at me for all this.."

Phineas was shocked to hear of his brother losing his temper but it did give reason for the melancholic attitude today. Unfortunately it was a whole-family thing so Ferb was not permitted to stay home alone. Vanessa was happy to see them visit. Even happier to see Ferb again. She hoped maybe they'd have a chance for her to apologize. Ferb smiled at Vanessa as they family was being brought in but for the most of the visit, kept to himself and out of the way. Even if Vanessa tried to make a direct approach to him, he gave his reply and didn't allow any further pursuing on the subject.

'...Is he still mad at me?', she thought to herself, feeling worried.

'Oh man, I want to go talk to her so badly. Keep an eye on her. Be there for her. But she's probably so mad at me right now, it would probably be best to keep my distance.', Ferb told himself, sighing a bit depressingly. 'Besides, it was MY fault her boyfriend died...'

"I hope you feel better soon, Vanessa.", Linda said politely.

"Yeah! Oh yeah Ferb? Didn't you bring Vanessa a get-well gift?", Phineas asked.

Ferb looked up from his spot, suddenly remembering the orange and yellow rose he had in his hand and walked over. He placed it in a small vase next to her bedside and gave a small smile and a nod. He didn't say anything. Didn't give time for her to say anything. And quickly retreated back to his corner of the room, allowing his cheeks to burn red from the slight embarrassment of not doing that sooner. Vanessa was, again, disheartened by his action but smiled at the rose still.

"Thanks Ferb.", she said to him, earning another nod. "It's really beautiful."

If she was mad at him, Ferb couldn't see it. But he didn't want to risk anything bad to happen and still resided to keep out of the way.

'Besides, if I were to say anything now, it would not only be in front of the whole family, but also probably more embarrassing than for my showing up at all.', he thought to himself.

It was pretty much like that for the rest of the visit and by the end of it, Ferb was saddened to leave her and Vanessa was probably the most lonely-feeling she's ever experienced.

'...At least he brought me a rose.', she reminded herself, smiling back at it. 'Maybe.. he doesn't entirely hate me from yesterday?'

The days passed and Vanessa was soon returned home. The neighborhood kids were happy for it and, under Phineas' design, sat up a "Welcome home" party for her as well. She was surprised and happy for the celebration, though it was bit unnecessary in her opinion. Even Ferb arrived which made her happy but, like with the hospital, he kept far away and said very little. When Vanessa tried to get close, he looked for excuses to move away.

"Hey, Ferb!", she greeted as she came over. "What's up?"

"Umm.. Wh-where's Perry?", Ferb quickly asked, looking around before moving away quickly. "I'm gonna.. go look for him."

'He's avoiding me? Why would he be doing that?', she asked herself in distress. '...maybe the rose thing was just to be polite..'

Unlike most of the boys, Vanessa's known, Ferb was a gentleman. The last thing he would want is a scene in front of everyone let alone in front of Vanessa. It pained him to stay away, but he was sure it was for the best to give her space from him. He had no clue of how badly she was of the contrary.


	10. Chapter 10

The problem with girls is that when you know they're upset, you need to give them some space. But the amount of time you need to give them for that private time is never determined at any time. That was Ferb's major problem. The few weeks that went by were as if she had never moved to the neighborhood. It was same old, same old. The gang saw, her, yes. Charlene would stop by if she ever dared to leave Vanessa alone. But most of their time was spent doing what they normally did. When Vanessa was finally back on her feet, it was one of the hottest days in Danville. Even those with air conditioners cranked up to high were still wearing tank tops and lounging in front of fans. Phineas and Ferb's dad happened to walk by at that moment, looking around curiously for something.

"Whatcha looking for, Dad?", Phineas asked as he passed by.

"Oh one of my Greek mythology books. The one about Daedalus and Icarus.", he replied as he looked around. "I really need to return it to the library soon."

"Wait.. Isn't that the story of the two guys who escaped from jail by making wings from wax?", Isabella asked curiously.

"Yes, they built wings with some feathers, wax, wood, and whatever other material they could find I suppose.", Lawrence replied. "But Icarus used his wings to go too near the sun and it melted the wax off his wings."

"It would be rather interesting if that was actually possible. To fly with wax wings.", Baljeet noted.

"Yeah, it'd be kinda cool..", Phineas shrugged, leaning a bit more towards the fan.

He smiled a bit at the wind that blew past him and then suddenly perked up.

"Hey Ferb! I know what we're gonna do today! Let's make a pair of mechanical wings to fly with!"

"Are you just saying that cause of their Icky-whoever talk?", Buford asked.

"What? Uh, no. I actually got the idea cause of the fan.", Phineas shrugged. "Cause you know, wind. Wings. Wings are dependent on wind and can cause wind if you flapped them hard enough while remaining on the ground. What on earth are you talking about?"

"...A true right brain at its prime.", Baljeet remarked.

"Totally.", Buford agreed.

They sat to work, soon joined by an eager Vanessa. With each pair, the kids added their own look to the feathers to determine who's wings belong to whom. During their work, Vanessa placed herself next to Ferb, hoping it would catch his attention. It was weird to her to see Ferb wearing a white tank top and purple shorts instead of his normal attire. And it was the exact same way from Ferb to Vanessa as she wore a black tank top and blue jean shorts. She glanced over at him once or twice as she worked, sometimes stared. Halfly from curiosity of him noticing her, halfly from an inability to resist her own rapidly growing infatuation of him. White shirt, tank top, a tuxedo, it suddenly seemed that no matter what Ferb was doing or wearing, he was 10 times cooler than she first thought, no pun intended towards the weather. When she wasn't looking, Ferb would look back as well, knowing she was there but also trying to seem like he wasn't being a rebound to the death of her ex-boyfriend. Yes with that reminder in his mind whenever he looked at her, it wasn't exactly easy to enjoy working next to her. But as Vanessa pulled out a black scrunchy from her pocket and pulled her hair back, Ferb felt himself smile and couldn't help but watch for at least a moment. At one point between this looking back and forth, they both happened to glance at each other but quickly looked away again to not appear to be staring. None of this was unnoticed, of course as Buford stopped in his work and sighed to himself.

"Now that's just sad.", he remarked to Baljeet who was doing most of the work beside him.

"What? Ferb and Vanessa?", he asked as he continued.

"What else? It's worse than Phineas and Isabella!", the bully rolled his eyes.

"Oh my gosh, tell me THAT is going to end soon.", Baljeet joined in the exasperation of the neighborhood secret.

"Well you and I both know she has to make a move on that one.", Buford shrugged and got back to work. "But on this one, I can't even tell who's supposed to do what."

"Let's just pray this isn't going to take forever and a day to finally happen.", Baljeet shook his head.

"If we're lucky."

Once the wings were finished, the designs were like this; it was your average seagull-wing look with a bit of an angle when coming up to the part where it attaches to the shoulder, much like a chimney swift's. It was bigger than a normal bird's wings though. Tall enough to over shadow the body intended for, went down long enough to match their feet, and were about twice the size of their arm length when spread out to their fullest. Phineas's was golden with a red shine to it. Isabella's was pink-tinged. Ferb kept his normal green tinge. Buford's was a typical white. Baljeet's was blue-tinged and Vanessa's was black with a purple shine to it. Ferb noticed, knowing those were the same colors he chose for her ear buds but resided to the fact that she only chose those colors again because she liked them.

"Okay, so how these things work is very simple. Since we're wearing tank top they can easily attach to your back without fear of ripping the shirts. When you put them on, they should send out axons with artificial synapses to sort of 'hack' into your nervous system so they act, feel, and are pretty much as close as you can get, to being an actual part of your body. But once you get flapping and flying down, it'll all be like a secondary movement like walking. Any volunteers to demonstrate where they need to be placed?", Phineas asked, looking around.

"I will!", Isabella said excitedly, happy to help her crush out.

Phineas gave a nod and picked up her pair.

"Now, Isabella, this MAY hurt just a bit.", Phineas warned as she moved aside her hair.

He placed the wings on her shoulder blades and the reaction was instant. She suddenly flinched, cried out in pain, and wanted nothing more than to move away from the sharp pain that she felt in her back. The wings began to spazz out wildly and Phineas had to duck a couple of times to avoid being hit as he tried to calm her down.

"Ow ow ow! Phineas that hurts!", she screamed, trying to take his hands off.

"No no! Isabella, you gotta calm down!", Phineas yelled in return, trying to be heard over the loud flapping noise. "Isabella.. Please, you gotta trust me. Keep calm, don't move."

She tried her best as the wings adjusted, allowing them understanding of their own movement. They finally let out a final spread-out, knocking Phineas back and into the fence on the other side and drooped over her as she offered a violent shudder. The sudden 10 lbs added to her back, however, unbalanced her and Isabella fell over, feeling pressured under it.

"Ack! Phineas, help!", she asked, trying hard to get back up.

Phineas quickly came over to help her up and smiled at the startled rest somewhat nervously. It was obvious everyone, except Ferb who had known this was going to happen as much as Phineas, was scared about what had happened to Isabella.

"It uh... Takes a moment to get adjusted to being a part of a living being..", he explained sheepishly.

"Okay! That's it! You have OFFICIALLY flown off your rocker.", Buford said, putting his hands up in a defeated sort of manner. "This grounded bully is out. PEACE!"

"Oh no no! Buford! Trust me, it's perfectly okay!", Phineas said, trying to pull him back as he ran over.

"Sorry Phineas, but I have to agree. I am not one for acupuncture or open surgery or any combination of the two!", Baljeet said, also backing out with the bully. "I'm gone"

"No, come on you guys! it's not THAT bad!", Phineas persisted before seeing them run out for their lives. "...Cowards!"

He rolled his eyes and looked back at what was left. Vanessa, though shocked of what happened to Isabella, knew it couldn't be any more dangerous than what her dad did and decided to give it a shot still. Ferb was prepared for it and knew he wouldn't be able to get out of it if he didn't want to anyway. As Isabella tried to find out how to move them willingly, Vanessa asked Ferb for some help with hers. It seemed awkward, but she wasn't going to ask Phineas for more help. Ferb ducked in time and wasn't knocked over as he helped place the wings on, but his face did grow a violent shade of red, helping Vanessa out like this. They were painful for a moment, but Vanessa tried to keep herself calm as they got in and shuddered when it was over. She was unbalanced for a moment but kept on her feet and turned around to offer a hand with Ferb's. The teenage boy, however, was already getting Phineas' help. He wasn't about to trust himself, asking Vanessa for help. He turned around and helped Phineas back and it wasn't long before the young inventor was off the ground after a running start.

"This is SO cool!", Phineas was saying as he flew higher and higher into the sky.

Isabella tried to flap her wings, but either she forgot one or the other wouldn't move right or she just wore herself out. She collapsed to her knees on the ground, feeling helpless at the idea.

'I'm SO pathetic!', she groaned to herself. 'I'm a fireside girl scout and I can't even get off the ground!'

She looked back up at Phineas and couldn't help but want to laugh as she watched him enjoy himself. He enjoyed being so high up, the boy even broke out in a flying sort of dance and song.

_Shipwrecked in the sea of faces,_

_There's a dreamy world up there._

_Dear Friends, in the higher places,_

_Carry me away from here._

_Travel light let the sun eclipse you..._

He flew down and offered a helping a hand to the distressed girl. She took his hands and was soon pulled up into the sky as well.

_Cause your flight is about to leave._

_And there's more to this brave adventure,_

_Then you'd ever believe!_

Once he saw she seemed to have her flapping down, he sort of tossed her into the air. She panicked for a moment but her wings caught her and she was soon flying and singing with him too.

_Birds eye view,_

_Awake the stars cause they're all around you._

_Wide eyes will always brighten the blue._

_Chase your dreams._

_And remember me,_

_Sweet bravery cause.._

_After all those wings will take you up so high._

_So bid the forest floor good bye as you race the wind and..._

_Take to the sky!_

At this point, Vanessa was so busy watching them that she hadn't even noticed Ferb was also giving things a spin and doing it rather well. She finally noticed when Ferb came down to offer her some help too, wondering to himself if it was the same issue as Isabella.

She blinked a bit and smiled before she took his hand and was soon lifted up as well. She flapped hard, to not be so much of a burden to him but once she got it down, Ferb let go. She looked around the world below her, surprised it was working so well and amazed at the view it brought. She kept her wings out for a steady glide and just allowed the whole of it all sweep over her. Maybe it was because she was laid up in a cast for so long, maybe it was the height. Whatever the cause, all of sudden, she could almost feel herself lost in the sky as a breeze swept past her new appendages. She then saw Ferb swooping down past her. He gave a few short flaps before landing on the roof to take a small break. Another sore swept through his body and rubbed his arms sorely, hoping it would help.

'...Was I a burden to him?', she wondered, not knowing of the normal aches he was feeling at the moment.

Her wings were growing tired of being out stretched and her heart suddenly weighed very heavy in her chest. She soared down to the backyard and kept her wings close to the body. Phineas noticed and came down, curious if she was okay.

"Yeah I'm fine it's just.. I'm suddenly.. not really feeling fit for flying.", she shrugged. "I-I should head home anyway. Mom's probably worried."

"Oh okay. You know, if you wanna, you can keep them.", Phineas smiled. "In case you break your leg again!"

At this, Vanessa couldn't help but laugh and agree though a small issue arose.

"Uh... So how do you take them off?", she asked.

"Oh. There's a little button right about here.", Phineas reached over and pressed them.

The large wings suddenly compacted into very small squared with a picture of a wing on the side next to the button.

"So the next time you want them, just press the button and they'll pop back out.", Phineas smiled and handed them over.

"Thanks, Phin.", she smiled and placed them in her pocket. "See ya later."

"Later Vanessa!", Phineas said before flying back up to Isabella. "Hey let's go show these to Buford and Baljeet."

They flew off and Vanessa walked out of the yard. As he watched her leave, suddenly Ferb felt much like a vulture; left for the dead. Was she leaving because it was silly? Because he looked childish flying around like a circus clown? Whatever the case may be, he sighed to himself and sat down to become more comfortable on the roof as he rested his body.

Suddenly at that moment, Candace came running out, dragging her mother with her.

"See Mom? They made-", she looked out and sighed. "...nothing."

"...I'm not sure if it's this heat, but whatever it is you're saying about 'mechanical wings', I'm labeling as another one of the rants.", Linda simply said before walking back inside.

"Oh.. But I KNEW I saw them..", she groaned to herself as she walked more into the yard.

She heard a flapping noise behind her and looked over to see Ferb come back down from the roof to prevent himself from falling off.

"...MOM!"

* * *

_Oh my gosh this took me and my sister Amber like, three days to figure out! We went to the encyclopedias and researched the axons and the nervous system. Birds. Wing-shapes. How some are for this sort of flying. How some are for another sort of flying. Drawings. Dead-ends. Ideas of weight and lengths. I'm surprised we didn't just scrap it! Sequels was easier to figure out than this! XD Hope you guys don't mind the Owl City referencing. XP It just totally seemed like something Phineas would sing._


	11. Chapter 11

It was obvious at that point, to Vanessa, that Ferb wanted nothing to do with her. And so, she appeared less and less at the Flynn-Fletchers. As the weeks wore on, she became something of a ghost to the neighborhood. Everyone knew she wasn't really dead or anything but the only time anyone saw her now was for her to go out of her mom's house and into the car to visit her dad or to come out of the car and go into the house to live with her mom. No one saw her in her yard or with any friend. It was as if she never existed. And this became the norm. Ferb, however, never went through a day he at least stopped to think about her. But Vanessa never stopped thinking about Ferb. It was why she didn't want to go outside. She wanted to see him, but it seemed like she was nothing but a burden to him. There wasn't anything outside that wouldn't remind her of him either. It easily became very heavy on her heart to really think about him. In her house, she would keep quiet. Sighing to herself when she saw the Scraping Fang posters she had or heard any of their or Love Handel's music. Her tears for Ferb would put so much flavor in her cup of coffee, that she soon stopped drinking it entirely. When she saw her now-not-all-punk friends, everything became very dull. She controlled her emotions with the press of a button. She could fly 50 ft in the air. Or hear another person's thought. And what did they do when they got together? Walk around the same old mall and looked at the same old things. The only difference was that when Vanessa stopped in the music store, she picked up a few Bob Dorough CD's to listen to as well as some other Jazz. But every song she heard, every lyric she picked up on, it only made her heart weigh heavier and heavier as they seemed to suddenly say everything she missed in Ferb. Flood after flood of tears would fall over her eyes as she listened in her room. Her actions weren't missed by either of her parents and Heinz decided, one weekend, to find out what the trouble was.

"Vanessa?", he asked as he knocked on her door. "You've been in there all day.. Are you okay?"

"...Can you please leave me alone?", a muffled sob was heard.

"Vanessa. Come on, talk to me.", he opened the door and came in, almost being slammed in the face by the loud music she was hearing.

You have only been gone 10 days,

But already I'm wasting away...

"Vanessa..", Heinz turned her music down and sat on the bed. "Talk to me."  
He brushed some of her hair aside but Vanessa kept her face buried into the pillow. After a moment, she gave a shakey sigh and sat back up, wiping some tears away.

"S-sorry, Dad...", she said quietly.

"I'm not looking for an apology. Just tell me what's going on.", he asked again, a little happier to see her face.

"Well... I can't believe I'm gonna be asking this, but Dad, you were a boy, right?", she asked.

Heinz had to laugh at this and say, "No, I built a puberty-inator and skipped from teenage-hood, straight into adult life!"

"Well.. That wouldn't necessarily be anything new.", Vanessa teased, chuckling a bit herself. "I mean you've been a teenage boy before, right?"

"Yes. Yes I have.", he chuckled. "Why? Another weirdo?"

"No.. No.. Just.. Have you ever been in a situation, where you liked a girl and she found out you liked her and said it was stupid?", she asked.

"Um... Yes. But... I think I was a little younger than you are when that happened.", Heinz drummed his chin, trying to remember back then. "Uh... Yeah. Yeah I remember her! Her name was Jennifer. A fellow geek in our school but still pompous like everyone else. Go on."

"Well... What did you do about that?", she asked, hoping, praying, he would give some hope to believe Ferb still might like her.

"I... Oh that's right. I bugged her and bugged her and tried again and again to impress her SO much that she openly humiliated me, tore my heart out, and then moved away into another city.", her dad nodded with a smile at the memory. "And then when I was crying about it at home my father would say, 'don't make a mountain out of a molehill'."

He thickened his accent and deepened his voice to do a silly impersonation of Mr. Doofenshmirtz which would normally make Vanessa laugh but with the knowledge of Ferb doing the exact opposite only confirmed it in her mind that he completely hated her, only made her want to cry some more. But before she could let a tear fall, she realized exactly how much she's been crying. All over what? A single boy? Yes Ferb was all that, but she didn't have to keep crying. For once in her life, what her grandfather had said did make a LOT of sense to her. She WAS making a mountain out of nothing but a mere molehill. No one said the first person you love was the only person you'd stay with. Look at her and Johnny. She couldn't keep crying over this one dilemma. There had to be more in her life. And if she was getting this upset just because Ferb wasn't talking to her, it might be best to just forget about him entirely.

"So why ARE you crying?", Heinz asked, seeing she wasn't laughing at his joke.

"...Nothing.", Vanessa said, more firmly than she intended. "You know what Dad? It really IS nothing."

From the moment on, Vanessa tried to get back into the old swing of things, but it wasn't necessarily the same. She had to at least steer clear of the coffee shop she and Ferb were at. The mall was really starting to get on her nerves though. It was the same old same old and she finally decided to try to make a difference.

"Actually, Lacey, instead of going to the mall, why not we just... do something else?", she asked.

"Um... Like what?", her friend asked, shrugging a bit. "We're just teenagers. We can't really do a whole lot."

"Um... Well...", Vanessa tried to think of something they could do.

It was kinda true. While Vanessa had an evil-scientist for a dad, not everyone was exactly like Phineas. And not to mention unlike how the boys seem to pay for everything, there wasn't exactly a whole lot in their pockets.

"...Umm... N-never mind..", she began to back track and glanced over at a dress in the window. "L-look at that, over there."

She walked over and her friend followed, still wondering what she was talking about. Finally a thought settled over Lacey but she knew it wouldn't be easy to pull off.

"...You know.. If you REALLY want a change of pace...", she began.

"Lacey, beg all you want but I am NOT going to some boring lecture with you.", Vanessa sighed, knowing her friend too well.

"What? No no. Not a lecture. But you know how my parents want me to be something better? Like a mathematician or whatever?", she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well they're dragging me to this Crystal Ball thingy and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, a crystal ball? How is THAT mathematician-worthy?", Vanessa asked, being lost.

"No! Not that kinda crystal ball. It's a ball. You know, a dancing thing. But it's crystal themed. Some daughter of their friend's is hosting it and they're dragging me along."

"No, Lacey. I'm NOT going a ball.", Vanessa rolled her eyes.

"Oh please! It'll be SOO boring without you! And there might be a couple of cute boys!"

"If there are any cute boys, you can have them for yourself.", Vanessa retorted. "And then it wouldn't be so boring."

"Please! Come on Vanessa! For me? Your bestest friend ever?", she begged.

Vanessa sighed knowing she wasn't going to hear the end of it no matter how firm she stood.

"...Is there a dress-code?", she asked.

"Uh..."

"That's too much.", and with that she turned to leave.

"No no! It'll be okay! I promise! We'll find a dress that'll look as good! I swear! Please! Come on!", Lacey grabbed her arm, deciding to go for the pitiful childish trick.

Another sigh and an agreement and it was settled. They went to look for some dresses though there was very little Vanessa wore that wouldn't break any code.

"Seriously, girl you need to stop being so picky.", Lacey rolled her eyes.

"Talk to the person who sat up the dress-code.", Vanessa groaned, returning to the clothes.

"Well... Well how about this one?", Lacey pulled up a light blue dress with an orange stripe in the middle.

The two looked at it for a moment before Lacey shook her head and placed it back, earning a grateful nod from her friend. They searched some more until finally Lacey held out a hand and stopped Vanessa before pointing her to one a little ways off.

"Oh, my gosh.", was all Lacey could say.

Vanessa looked over and was equally surprised. The dress Lacey was pointing out was orange and yellow. The top of it was strapless, had a wrapped-up sort of design, and only had a small jewl in the center. The skirt of it was something like a beach skirt that had a red-orange color to blend with the top and it faded out into an orange-yellow with a red outline on the ruffle at the bottom. As they walked up to it, it suddenly seemed like the only best way to describe it was a sunset blossoming out as a rose.

"...Lacey, there is NO way, I'd be able to work THAT dress."

"No, Ness. You HAVE to wear that dress.", Lacey said, almost mesmerized by it. "THAT is just too beautiful for you to pass up."

"It has to be too expensive!"

Lacey checked and it wasn't. Not for her family. So it was settled. And that's what Vanessa was going to be doing tonight.

Back with Ferb, he was still thinking over what he had done that would make Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, the only girl he's ever loved and ever could love, stop coming out of her house entirely. Maybe, there was something he said. Or maybe something he hadn't said. Maybe if he tried to explain himself more clearly about how much he wanted to see her, talk with her, be with her, she would understand and stop being mad at him. Girls liked that in a guy, right? It was made up in his mind. He knew things were going to get awkward eventually, but he couldn't keep avoiding her anymore. He was telling his plan to his brother, who listened carefully.

"...Is that why you've been working at our inventions like a mad man?", Phineas asked.

Ferb gave a nod.

"Bro, you should totally go get her.", Phineas smiled. "You need her.. BADLY."

"Okay, what makes you say THAT?", he asked, slightly smiling.

"Well physical changes aside, look at you! You've been so depressed lately, you're starting to drag ME down!", Phineas joked some. "Please! Go! Get her! Eat, drink and be merry!"

Ferb chuckled and headed out. He walked down the street and came up to her house. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently but it wasn't long before Vanessa's mother answered the door.

"Oh hi Ferb!", she greeted happily. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, is Vanessa here? I really need to talk to her.", Ferb said somewhat anxiously.

"Oh.. Um.. She's not.. here right now. She's visiting her dad.", her mother smiled weakly. "Sorry."

Ferb sighed a bit, gave a "thank you" and headed back home. There, Phineas noticed he headed straight into the garage and followed him to find he was picking up the chips to the wings they had made.

"Whatcha doin?", Phineas asked.

"She's in town. I'm gonna fly there since I still don't have a driver's license.", Ferb said.

He opened up the wings and asked Phineas for help to install them.

"Uh, Ferb? They're built to match YOUR height, remember? You have been growing quite a bit.", Phineas pointed out.

He was right. Over the last few weeks, Ferb's become something like a tree at this point. His parents had been keeping up with buying him new clothes to fit him but he's been growing so rapidly that the old design of clothes he and Phineas made earlier that Summer, weren't in his size at this point. Instead now he was wearing a white t-shirt with jeans and a purple jacket. After a moment, he began to open up the wings Buford and Baljeet had declined and worked fast as he tried to merge the three together to fit his size. Phineas helped as much as he could but before Ferb could put them on, Linda was calling them inside for dinner. The brothers looked at each other but they both knew it would probably be best not to go running to the city on an empty stomach.

Dr. Doofenshmritz reclined a bit more in his chair as he looked over the newspaper when he suddenly heard a loud flapping sound.

"Hm? Is it that raven again? Cause I swear, if it is I'm gonna-", he began as he walked over to the window.

He was cut off by a knock at the door and walked over, curious of who it could be. Perry then crashed into the room, ready to begin his mission and was missed just by a split second. He opened the door to find Ferb standing there, leaned against the doorway, panting for breath as sweat poured from his face and the large weirdly colored wings slumped over his body. Ferb saw the door opened and stood back up, trying to not look so worn out. He was wanting to ask after Vanessa but the odd staring made him realize that the wings were probably not the most normal thing for most to see. He folded them closer to his body as he straightened up and attempted to explain but Heinz cut him off to stare for a moment longer... Possibly more.

"...Okay I've had my fill of weirdness. What do you want?", he asked.

"Um.. Is Vanessa home? I'm Ferb and I'd like to talk with her if you don't mind."

"YOU'RE Ferb?", he asked, looking over the teenage boy.

"Yes. The uh.. the wings are just-"

"Mechanical. Yes, I can see that. You're just taller than before.", he quickly shoved aside. "Sorry, but she's not here right now."

Ferb sighed and let his shoulders and wings slump again.

'Well.. there's always another day..', he thought to himself. "Thank you for your time, Sir. Just let her know I.. wanted to talk with her."

He began to walk out but as the older watched, he just couldn't stop himself, even though he knew he'd have to kill himself later.

"Hey wait a minute.", Doof called out, catching Ferb by surprise as he walked over. "I don't normally do this with half the guys that come asking after Vanessa, but I can tell that if you two WERE to get together, you'd treat her right. Right?"

He glared down at Ferb to make sure he was serious if the answer was no.

"I'd treat her like a queen. Yes!", Ferb agreed with a nod.

"You better. She's with her friends at some Crystal Ball thing. And it's not the sphereical thing you're probably thinking of. It's some weird dance of theirs or whatever. I don't exactly know where it is but she's supposed be back and in bed by 10. If you hurry, you could probably catch her before she has to come back."

Ferb smiled and wanted to thank him but he wasn't sure if words would have been enough to express the gratitude.

"Well go on Gabriel! Hurry up before you're too late!", Heinz joked, shooing him further down the hall.

Ferb looked back at the elevator he was heading for and started walking that way with a nod.

"Thank you Sir.", he said, hoping it was enough to at least show a fraction.

"Yeah, yeah, go on. Oh and if you hurt her...", he began to warn with a glare.

"I'll have a halo for the wings.", Ferb finished, not caring at this point if there was any real danger.

The doors closed and Heinz began to walk back.

"More like devil horns in my opinion.", he muttered to himself.

As he walked back into his apartment, he quickly shut the dropped jaw on Perry the Shocked-Platypus's bill and chuckled a bit.


	12. Chapter 12

_Ack! There's an author's note at the top! O.O I just wanna say before you read this chapter, try listening to Crystal Ball by Styx. Yes, it's where I got the idea. Yes, I know what the real lyrics mean but I heard it when I was little and always like my variation of a man on a search for his love at the Crystal Ball with no idea of where to find her rather than someone consulting a sphere to tell them about their future. XP_

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Ferb was going as fast as his wings would carry him but the fastest a bird could fly is when it dives. The climbs back up always slowed him down a bit, like the craziest roller coaster he'd ever be on. The only problem however, was that he wasn't entirely sure what this Crystal Ball thing was about. He figured it was most likely a large gathering, so he looked for places where a lot of cars were parked that wasn't a parking garage. But after some while of searching his wings were aching, there were stitched in his rib cage, and he was gasping for breath from the physical exertion. He tried to ignore the pain. He knew that he had to find Vanessa and quickly. He had wasted so many days of avoiding her that if he gave up now, his heart would hurt more than his body. But with his strength escaping him, he also knew he had to do the one thing most guys would hate to do if he EVER wanted to see Vanessa tonight...

"Excuse me...", Ferb panted as he flapped his way down to a man who was walking along the sidewalk. "W-would you...happen to know.. Where the Crystal Ball is?"

The guy stared at him curiously a moment as Ferb leaned against a lamp post, catching his breath. The teenager knew he was staring at the wing and straightened up a bit.

"I'm not an angel. These are mechanical.", he said, closing them back up, but flexing one to demonstrate. "See? Not real. Where is it?"

The guy nodded quickly and after a moment of thought, saw a colleague of his and went to ask him directions, making Ferb feel more and more hopeless.

"Tell me this isn't happening...", Ferb groaned, slapping a hand to his face.

He didn't want to wait for them and decided to run off down the street to ask someone else. After a few guesses, and a couple more tries at asking people, Ferb finally came to the place. It must've been exclusive if there wasn't half as many cars that he would've guessed. But is being called a "ball", he supposed that would make sense and it was something more formal.

Inside, Vanessa was rather bored by what was going on. People danced, adults made their jokes, and she was lost in a sea of strangers with Lacey being the only one she knew. A couple of guys came to ask her for a dance, but they were either real geeks or she really wasn't in the mood to promote feelings in any boy. Finally during the middle of one song, Lacey was sitting to her at a table, taking a breather from the dancing when something caught her attention and she pointed it out to her friend.

"Uh, Vanessa? Is that FERB?", she asked, nodding to the entrance.

Vanessa's head snapped up in the general direction and there he was. She almost didn't recognize him at first but the green hair was unmistakable.

"He's a giant!", Lacey remarked, almost wanting to laugh not from rudeness but from surprise. "Oh my gosh, you were right. He IS a teen!"

He wasn't just a teen to Vanessa as she stared at him while he caught his breath. He was suddenly a real man. A real man that she was trying to get over!

"Aah! Wait, what is HE doing here?", Vanessa exclaimed, ducking under the table as her face became about as red as his. "He can't POSSIBLY be here, NOW!"

"Uh, unless he's some weird doppelganger with green hair-dye, I think that IS Ferb, Vanessa.", Lacey said, smiling down at her friend in amusement.

Ferb was thankful for the cool air conditioning in the building and wiped the sweat off his face. He then noticed exactly how exhausted he looked and thought he should at least clean off his hands before seeing Vanessa. The boy compacted the wings and headed into the bathroom where he not only washed up but also sewed up the large holes in the back of his shirt with the small amount of supplies he brought for that exact purpose. Vanessa watched him every step of the way, hoping he wouldn't see her and was fortunate he didn't. Did he come all this way just to find HER?

'No! Vanessa, don't get your hopes up!', She scolded herself. 'But...why else is he here?'

The whole thing didn't make any sense to her.

"Ness, why are you all freaked out?", Lacey asked, confused by her friend's reaction.

"Lace, I've been trying like crazy to finally shove him out of my mind. To finally get OVER him. If he's here, what am I supposed to expect other than more heart-breaking?", Vanessa said, getting back up. "I-I gotta hide...!"

Before another word was said, she went for the only safe place she could think of; the girls' bathroom. When Ferb finished up and cooled off, he slid on his jacket again, placed the chips in his jean's pocket, and headed out. Vanessa, however, was becoming impatient at just waiting in the bathroom. Her tension was growing more and more by the minute and she decided to come out and try to find another hiding spot. They both stepped out at the same time though neither noticed as they looked around the room for the other. Vanessa was the first to notice Ferb and felt her heart leap into her throat. It nearly jumped out of her mouth as Ferb finally saw her just when she was about to leave. His shock was immediate, suddenly seeing Vanessa staring back at him in her dress. He's thought her beautiful before, but there wasn't even words he could form in his head to describe her beauty now and he was lost in his trance as he stared at her. Vanessa, however, only stared in fear and started to run off, snapping him awake and causing him to call after her and follow.

"Wh-? Vanessa!", he said, beginning to follow. "Vanessa! Wait!"

He chased her through the dance hall but it wasn't long before he finally caught up with her and snatched her by the wrist.

"Vanessa, wait a minute, I need to talk with you.", he said, quickly turning her to face him.

Vanessa stared back, wanting nothing more than to pull her arm back and run away again but as she looked at him, staring intently into his ocean blue eyes, she felt her anger burn deep inside and pulled her arm back.

"You know what? So do I.", she said as her eyebrows furrowed together.

Ferb felt a wave of relief wash over him and was too grateful to notice her quickly building rage. They walked away from the crowd and found something more of a private corner to talk at.

"Vanessa, I-", Ferb began before he was cut off and poked in the chest.

"Just who the heck do you think you are?", she started off, finally spewing her frustration. "I get in a car accident and you AVOID me? I ask for help, I find ways to spend time with you, and you just drop out of it and stay as far away from me as possible? Do you know how badly I needed you in that hospital, Ferb? Do you know how much heartache you caused me by ignoring me? I thought you hated me! And when I finally start getting over you, when I finally stop crying at every darn little thing that makes me think about you, you suddenly show up like some desperate boyfriend and start saying you need to talk to ME? You have no clue how much I love you, Ferb! But now that I'm finally ready to drop it too, finally ready to move on, you suddenly HAVE to come HERE of all places, acting like you're just gonna talk your way out of this!"

The last bit, Ferb didn't hear. He was not only surprised at her outburst, but suddenly caught on the words, 'I love you'. He only stared in shock as Vanessa panted form her yelling and broke down into tears.

"It.. It's not easy... Everything I do.. I can't help but see you..", she said, trying hard not to sob.

Ferb felt concerned as he watched her wipe away the tears and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Vanessa... I.. I'm sorry.. I didn't know I was making you think I hated you..", he was saying as she looked up at him and tried to see through the tears. "Vanessa, I love you more than anything in the world. When I heard you were in a crash, I thought you might be mad at me so I wanted to give you space."

Vanessa sighed and still seemed agitated as she shook her head and said, "What on earth would make you think I was mad at you?"

"Cause.. If I was more mature back at the coffee shop.. You wouldn't have gotten upset. Then you wouldn't have gotten into the crash.. I came here because I couldn't stop thinking of you. Because I still love you, even though you said I was a child, or seemed like you hated me. I love you, Vanessa. Really I do.. I'm sorry for not saying sooner."

She stared at him for a moment, hearing the "I love you" again and again in her mind before she finally let loose all the tears she was fighting back and rested into his chest. He hugged her close, comforting her as she cried. He was happy for the moment, worried about her crying, but when all was finally calmed down and she wiped the tears from her eyes, he brushed a few off her cheek and smiled down at her. She looked back and smiled a bit too. A kiss was inevitable to follow the roller coaster of their emotions and they hugged again, happier than before.

"...You know what's actually kinda funny about this?", Ferb asked, as he smiled down at her.

"What?"

"I can say I've been kissed by a rose.", he teased, making her laugh.

"And I can say I've kissed an angel I met back in Blueprint Heaven.", she said between laughs, making him laugh as well.

A few dances, some talk between Ferb, Vanessa, Lacey, and her date there and they really enjoyed themselves. Afterwards, when it was starting to get time to head home, Ferb offered to fly her back and Vanessa, of course, didn't refuse. Heinz was reading a book when he suddenly looked up. He sat the book aside and walked over to open the door in time for Vanessa to come walking in.

"So? How'd it go?", he asked as she walked through the room and sat her purse down on the table.

As sent question after question to her, Doof's daughter made no reply but instead brushed her teeth and walked into her room to get ready for bed.

"...I told so!", he finally settled for, teasingly.

A pillow soon greeted his face from her room, taking the man down, and making Vanessa chuckle to herself.

Phineas waited impatiently, looking up at the sky from the living room. Candace walked through at that point.

"Phineas, Mom says it's time for bed.", she said.

"Aw hang on a second! Dad said I could stay up until Ferb came back.", Phineas replied, looking over with a frown.

"Yeah but Mom says you need to go to bed, NOW.", Candace argued.

Phineas sighed, knowing she had the upper hand and started to get down when the unmistakable sound of Ferb's arrival was heard. He quickly ran over to the door and opened it as Ferb began to walk in and place the chips back in his pocket.

"Ferb you're back! So how'd it go? Did you find Vanessa? Are you guys together now?", Phineas quickly asked.

Ferb ignored his little brother aside from ruffling his hair a bit and headed upstairs to get ready for bed. The two Flynns looked at one another for a moment.

"...I told you so!", Phineas finally teased with a smirk.

"Okay, whatever. Just head for bed, now kay?", Candace said as she rolled her eyes and began to shoo him upstairs.

After the two brothers had gotten dressed and Perry nuzzled closer to Phineas, the lights were turned off and the room was quiet. After a moment, Ferb opened his eyes again, and adjusted to the darkness. He reached over and pulled something out of his drawer.

'So...', he began to think in his mind as he placed the ear buds on. 'Whatcha thinkin'?'

'Actually I was kinda wondering when you first loved me.', Vanessa asked.

'That's easy to answer. I met an angel in Blueprint Heaven.', Ferb half-joked.

'Ha ha! Ferb, I'm serious!', she laughed.

'What? You want the truth?'

'Yes! Please.. The truth.', she asked for.

'The whole truth?'

'The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Are we in court?', she teased.

'Okay the whole truth and nothing but the truth is...', Ferb began, pausing only to playfully build up anticipation. 'I met a BEAUTIFUL angel in Blueprint Heaven.'

Vanessa wanted to burst out laughing but she kept it in her mind.

'I love you..', she simply said as she shook her head.

'I love you too. And always will.', he smiled, unable to fathom the joy of hearing that.

'I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Right. Goodnight.'

'Night.'

They pulled the ear buds out, and soon went to sleep, happier than they ever have been.

**The End.**

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_No! It's the end! XP I hope everyone enjoyed reading this and I will NOT make a sequel. FERBNESSA FOREVER!**  
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